NationStates Jolt Archive


Oh geez

Zilam
25-06-2006, 22:59
Al-Aksa claims biological, chemical capabilities
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH


The Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced on Sunday that its members have succeeded in manufacturing chemical and biological weapons.
In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, the group, which belongs to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party, said the weapons were the result of a three-year effort.

According to the statement, the first of its kind, the group has managed to manufacture and develop at least 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons.

The group said its members would not hesitate to add the new weapons to Kassam rockets that are being fired at Israeli communities almost every day. It also threatened to use the weapons against IDF soldiers if Israel carried out its threats to invade the Gaza Strip.

"We want to tell [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz that your threats don't frighten us," the leaflet said.

"We will surprise you with our new weapons the moment the first soldier sets foot in the Gaza Strip."


Are these just baseless threats, or do you beleive that they actually have these weapons and are willing to use them?

-edit- http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885848200&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull-edit-
Outcast Jesuits
25-06-2006, 23:00
Bluff much.
Koon Proxy
25-06-2006, 23:01
If they have them, they're darn well going to use them. At least, that's what the evidence seems to point to. And given general Israeli tactics, we're probably going to find out whether or not they do have them disturbingly quickly.
Super-power
25-06-2006, 23:02
Umm, source? Though I personally think this is a bluff
Zilam
25-06-2006, 23:05
Umm, source? Though I personally think this is a bluff


Oops, link is put up in the OP :)
Teh_pantless_hero
25-06-2006, 23:14
If they have them, they're darn well going to use them. At least, that's what the evidence seems to point to. And given general Israeli tactics, we're probably going to find out whether or not they do have them disturbingly quickly.
I give it a day, at most.
Baguetten
25-06-2006, 23:15
Meh. The point of terrorism is to terrorise. They want us to live in fear.

Well, nuts to that. This'll change nothing in my life.
Koon Proxy
25-06-2006, 23:19
On second thoughts, I desperately want to believe this is a hoax, simply because "al-Aska" sounds way too much like one of the US states... not that that's in any way relevant to anything.
Zilam
25-06-2006, 23:25
On second thoughts, I desperately want to believe this is a hoax, simply because "al-Aska" sounds way too much like one of the US states... not that that's in any way relevant to anything.


Al-aksa brigade gets its name from the al-aksa mosque(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque)
Sane Outcasts
25-06-2006, 23:28
Seems to be a foolish move on the part of this al-Aska group. Isreal hasn't been shy about taking out dangerous groups before, and claiming to have biological weapons will probably put al-Aska at the top of the target list.
Zilam
25-06-2006, 23:33
Seems to be a foolish move on the part of this al-Aska group. Isreal hasn't been shy about taking out dangerous groups before, and claiming to have biological weapons will probably put al-Aska at the top of the target list.


Perhaps, but do you think that Israel wants a Kassam rocket filled with chemical or small pox or whatever, flying into a crowded tel-aviv neighborhood? I don't know what Olmert is going to do with this. It is a VERY delicate situation.
Andaluciae
25-06-2006, 23:34
They just bought a couple of gallons of bleach and ammonia, mixed them together and stored it up as mustard gas. It's not that hard. Hell, I've got friends who have been cleaning with ammonia, run out, and switched over to bleach. The end result was a coughing fit. In sufficient quantities, you could get some stuff that could really hurt people.
Zilam
25-06-2006, 23:41
They just bought a couple of gallons of bleach and ammonia, mixed them together and stored it up as mustard gas. It's not that hard. Hell, I've got friends who have been cleaning with ammonia, run out, and switched over to bleach. The end result was a coughing fit. In sufficient quantities, you could get some stuff that could really hurt people.


-cough- terrorists-cough-

:p
Zilam
26-06-2006, 00:09
and there was a -bump- in the night.....
Greyenivol Colony
26-06-2006, 00:21
Yeah... this is a bluff. I refuse to believe that the IDF would ever let a piece of nuclear material go astray in their country.
Zilam
26-06-2006, 06:47
Yeah... this is a bluff. I refuse to believe that the IDF would ever let a piece of nuclear material go astray in their country.


Thats a good point. But they(the palestinians) could perhaps smuggle some weaponary in through tunnels from egypt through gaza, and maybe from syria in the north..
Neu Leonstein
26-06-2006, 06:51
Yeah... this is a bluff. I refuse to believe that the IDF would ever let a piece of nuclear material go astray in their country.
What nuclear material?
It's pretty well-known that making B- or C-Weapons is actually pretty easy, when you have some basic understanding of the science involved.

It's possible that they have them (although they're probably vastly overstating the extent), which I suppose shouldn't come as a surprise. Nonetheless, it can't be tolerated, not by the Israelis and not by the PA. They should work together to take care of this.

And aren't the Brigades affiliated with Fatah? Why the hell isn't there anyone there who will tell them to quit it?
Wilgrove
26-06-2006, 06:59
Well, this should be one hell of a firework, and look, it's almost 4th of July!
Zilam
26-06-2006, 07:03
What nuclear material?
It's pretty well-known that making B- or C-Weapons is actually pretty easy, when you have some basic understanding of the science involved.

It's possible that they have them (although they're probably vastly overstating the extent), which I suppose shouldn't come as a surprise. Nonetheless, it can't be tolerated, not by the Israelis and not by the PA. They should work together to take care of this.

And aren't the Brigades affiliated with Fatah? Why the hell isn't there anyone there who will tell them to quit it?


Maybe neither side wants it to end until the other side is completly destroyed?
Power and War IV
26-06-2006, 07:07
Maybe neither side wants it to end until the other side is completly destroyed?

Exactly
Wilgrove
26-06-2006, 07:08
God knows the US will be dragged into this. *groans and wish we didn't support Israel the way we do.*
Power and War IV
26-06-2006, 07:12
Isreal is a great ally of the US, if this does escalate, we probably will be ushered into it, im proud that we support them.
Trostia
26-06-2006, 07:16
Many chemical weapons are ridiculously simple to make.

It never ceases to amaze me that people think they can control the genie let out of the bottle. Same with nuclear technology (which is albeit a bit harder to produce).
Zilam
26-06-2006, 07:22
Isreal is a great ally of the US, if this does escalate, we probably will be ushered into it, im proud that we support them.




Me too :)
Power and War IV
26-06-2006, 07:43
(thanks)

Say they really do have these weapons. And say they really do use them, could this start a world war?
Neu Leonstein
26-06-2006, 07:53
And say they really do use them, could this start a world war?
Nope. None of the world powers except the US is really involved. The US (if it chose to get involved, it's not like Israel can't handle it themselves) might try to ask NATO, which would agree (pretty much all member nations have informally pledged that they would support Israel if its existence was threatened).

And then they fight....no one. Because no nation, no matter how many Arabs live there, will publically go out and support the Palestinians, unless the Israelis start going completely apeshit and genocidal. And in that case, if the US was to intervene it would likely be to stop the Israelis.

And in either case neither China nor Russia really care.
Pride and Prejudice
26-06-2006, 07:54
Well, the OP is pretty much fully discussed, but here's my two cents anyway - if they've got them, they'll use them. However, much sabre-rattling happens in the Middle East, so they don't necessarily have them...
NeoThalia
26-06-2006, 08:32
They just bought a couple of gallons of bleach and ammonia, mixed them together and stored it up as mustard gas. It's not that hard. Hell, I've got friends who have been cleaning with ammonia, run out, and switched over to bleach. The end result was a coughing fit. In sufficient quantities, you could get some stuff that could really hurt people.


What they produced by mixing ammonia and bleach together is not mustard gas. Its elemental Cl.

NT
NeoThalia
26-06-2006, 08:39
And on the topic of the thread the palestinian-israeli situation scares the hell out of me.


Eventually someone in Israel is going to get a twitchy finger and "accidentally" push a button. All of a sudden a part of syria disappears, and we are now in the middle of what will shape into the third world war.


Israel has nukes, and the Arabs have numbers... Just a bad combination. You've got one group with nukes and a willingness to use them if pushed too far, and you've got one group with a willingness to invade and numbers sufficient to be able to absorb a nuclear attack. F***, if that isn't the messiest situation imaginable I don't know what is.

Religious animosity + racial animosity + historical animosity + big weapons = BOOM?!



And as far as the chemical and biologicals go I don't think what they have is all that wide-scale lethal, but it wouldn't surprise me if they had some chemical or biological warheads. Using them is another matter.

One of the principles behind war is that of reciprocity. If you use a nuclear weapon you can expects measures of a nature of comparable extremity. This principle holds true at the level of biological and chemical attacks, especially on civilian targets. You can expect a large scale retaliation if NBC warfare breaks out in the region with Israel pushing a whole lot of buttons...

NT