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Carr sez Western cities must be prepared for nuclear al-Qaeda attack
AUSTRALIA and the United States must be prepared for the likelihood that al-Qaeda will one day get its hands on a nuclear weapon, former NSW premier Bob Carr says.Mr Carr has told the Australia-America Leadership Dialogue in Los Angeles that the terror group had been trying for five years to get hold of a nuclear weapon and it was likely it would succeed. "In 2001 al-Qaeda chatter tracked by US intelligence was about one of their primary goals...to produce what they called an American Hiroshima," Mr Carr said. "Western cities must have comprehensive evacuation plans drawn up and there have to be detailed plans for communicating with the people about what they should do." Former Californian governor Pete Wilson, also speaking at the forum, said the US Department of Homeland Security was focused on prevention rather than a response to a nuclear attack. "The consequences in terms of communications breakdowns and pressure on medical facilities would be unimaginable," Mr Wilson said. "So concentrating on prevention makes sense, but we still have to consider and plan for what we would do if it did happen." Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-01-22 |
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