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Author Topic: Congress examines EMP threat  (Read 102 times)
Peter1469
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« on: July 09, 2008, 08:47:39 AM »

"An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the American homeland, said one of the distinguished scientists who testified at the hearing, is one of only a few ways that the United States could be defeated by its enemies – terrorist or otherwise," wrote Kyl "And it is probably the easiest. A single Scud missile, carrying a single nuclear weapon, detonated at the appropriate altitude, would interact with the Earth's atmosphere, producing an electromagnetic pulse radiating down to the surface at the speed of light. Depending on the location and size of the blast, the effect would be to knock out already stressed power grids and other electrical systems across much or even all of the continental United States, for months if not years."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69056


How many of you have heard of Electromagnetic pulses- and what they can do to unshielded electronics? 
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SDML
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« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2008, 08:56:22 AM »

Dude, didn't you watch "The Matrix"?

Seriously, though....I don't see an EMP as being the primary threat. EMP generation requires a LOT of power. If a terrorist group, for example, gets their hands on that kind of power, it will likely be in the form of a nuclear weapon.

Non-nuclear EMP weapons are mostly speculative at this point, so far as I know. A few tests and no pu8blically released results.
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Peter1469
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« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2008, 09:35:42 AM »

I did not see the Matrix.

I think the point is to use a nuclear weapon to create the EMP.  That is the point- you don’t have to hit a city- you only need to detonate it high in the atmosphere. 
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Beatnik
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« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2008, 09:48:06 AM »

If a terrorist group acquires a nuclear weapon like that, Obama will want to talk to them, convince them not to use it.  Cheesy McCain will just bomb the shit out of them. Which method would work best?  Undecided

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Peter1469
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« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2008, 09:56:00 AM »

If a terrorist group acquires a nuclear weapon like that, Obama will want to talk to them, convince them not to use it.  Cheesy McCain will just bomb the shit out of them. Which method would work best?  Undecided



Talking of course.  Or perhaps sending a strongly worded letter via the UN Security Council expressing how very very bad these plans are. 
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« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2008, 09:59:49 AM »

If a terrorist group acquires a nuclear weapon like that, Obama will want to talk to them, convince them not to use it.  Cheesy McCain will just bomb the shit out of them. Which method would work best?  Undecided



Talking of course.  Or perhaps sending a strongly worded letter via the UN Security Council expressing how very very bad these plans are. 

...

That's a joke, right?
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Peter1469
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« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2008, 10:01:34 AM »

You don't know me very well.


Of course.   Grin Grin Grin
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Beatnik
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« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2008, 10:04:50 AM »

You don't know me very well.


Of course.   Grin Grin Grin

Oh, thank God. I know you've served in Iraq - and God bless you for doing so, man - so that statement scared me a bit.

The United Nations is not a bad organization, we just shouldn't let them decide what's in the best interest of America. We need to make it clear that we're not going to be their bitch.
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SDML
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« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2008, 10:36:55 AM »

Not that "bombing the shit out of them" will work, either.

That mentality is a holdover from a different time, when the 2 opposing forces mostly lined up in different colors on opposite sides of the field and laid each other to waste. Now, it's just silly.

Bombing Iraq or Afghanistan or Sudan or where ever doesn't stop a non-centralized terrorist group.

McCain & Obama seem equally inept in this scenario.
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