OK, Barack Obama, a "suitcase bomb" doesn't actually fit in a suitcase. It's a figure of speech.
1 Comment
Leave a comment
Categories
- Audio (8)
- Behind the News (1008)
- Blog Report (467)
- Campaign Desk (538)
- Cover Story (2)
- Currents (6)
- Darts and Laurels (7)
- Dispatch
- Dispatches from Iraq (10)
- Editor's Picks (47)
- Editorial (8)
- Essay (21)
- Events (6)
- Feature (34)
- First Person (2)
- Full Court Press (17)
- Language Corner (29)
- Lead Story (4)
- Magazine Report (116)
- News Meeting (13)
- On the Contrary (1)
- On the Job (7)
- Overload! (9)
- Page Views (5)
- Parting Thoughts (17)
- Politics (1404)
- Profile (5)
- Q and A (3)
- Regret the Error (17)
- Review (17)
- Second Read (3)
- Short Takes (3)
- Starting Thoughts (8)
- The Audit (552)
- The Kicker (1210)
- The News Business (1)
- The Observatory (77)
- The Research Report (7)
- The Water Cooler (162)
- Top Story (3)
- Transparency (12)
- Video (5)
- Voices in Time (11)
Monthly Archives
- February 2009 (123)
- January 2009 (305)
- December 2008 (267)
- November 2008 (296)
- October 2008 (388)
- September 2008 (459)
- August 2008 (299)
- July 2008 (151)
- June 2007 (5)
- May 2007 (69)
- April 2007 (40)
- March 2007 (56)
- February 2007 (46)
- January 2007 (60)
- December 2006 (37)
- November 2006 (71)
- October 2006 (74)
- September 2006 (70)
- August 2006 (77)
- July 2006 (54)
- June 2006 (72)
- May 2006 (70)
- April 2006 (62)
- March 2006 (74)
- February 2006 (68)
- January 2006 (63)
- December 2005 (65)
- November 2005 (83)
- October 2005 (95)
- September 2005 (93)
- August 2005 (69)
- July 2005 (67)
- June 2005 (87)
- May 2005 (76)
- April 2005 (66)
- March 2005 (74)
- February 2005 (63)
- January 2005 (65)
- December 2004 (61)
- November 2004 (78)
- October 2004 (97)
- September 2004 (98)
- August 2004 (83)
- July 2004 (102)
- June 2004 (90)
- May 2004 (78)
- April 2004 (102)
- March 2004 (121)
- February 2004 (113)
- January 2004 (68)
Pages
Search
About this Entry
This page contains a single entry by published on September 26, 2008 10:30 PM.
Color Me Whateverwhatever was the previous entry in this blog.
On Message is the next entry in this blog.
Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.
No it's not. There probably aren't any nuclear bombs that fit in a suitcase, but not for lack of trying. Both the US and the USSR built miniaturized weapons that were small enough to fit in (very) large backpacks. The US is rumored to have built a true suitcase bomb; though the veracity of this is debatable. You need nearly a critical mass of plutonium for a bomb and that's already fairly large relative to the size of suitcases.
However, if you don't need a real bomb, but only something that (weakly) blows itself up before full ignition yet spreads a great deal of lethal radiation around, that would be relatively easily achievable in a suitcase or even briefcase size.
At any rate, experts talk about "suitcase bombs" because theoretical ones might fit in a suitcase and actual ones almost will. It's not a figure of speech.