Author: Islamic State Planning 'Nuclear Tsunami'

I don’t know how much of this story to believe, or whether to chalk it up to promoting a new book, Inside IS – Ten Days in the Islamic State

Or, the author, Jurgen Todenhofer, may be reporting accurately what he saw and heard — which is the same as the terrorists spoon feeding him information.

Any way you cut it, this is a disturbing description of Islamic State from a reporter who was allowed to embed with them.

Washington Times:

Nuclear annihilation across the globe. This is what a German reporter who successfully embedded with the Islamic State says the terror group is planning. Jurgen Todenhofer released his findings in a book titled “Inside IS – Ten Days in the Islamic State,” reports the UK’s Daily Express.

“The terrorists plan on killing several hundred million people. The west is drastically underestimating the power of ISIS. ISIS intends to get its hands on nuclear weapons,” says Todenhofer, calling the group a “nuclear tsunami preparing the largest religious cleansing in history.”

“They now control land greater in size than the United Kingdom and are supported by an almost ecstatic enthusiasm the like of which I’ve never encountered before in a war zone. Every day hundreds of willing fighters from all over the world come. They are the most brutal and most dangerous enemy I have ever seen in my life. I don’t see anyone who has a real chance to stop them. Only Arabs can stop IS. I came back very pessimistic.”

Whether or not ISIS wants to get its hands on nuclear weapons is not the question. We know they do, and once in their hands, they wouldn’t hesitate to use them.

But for the next decade, it is doubtful they will be able to achieve that goal. Even with the expected proliferation of nukes in the Middle East, those programs would be starting from scratch. They would pretty much have to take the route of Iran since nuclear powers in the west would be prevented from giving them assistance to build a bomb by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This will stretch out development time considerably.

Would North Korea sell them a bomb or two? Or if radicals take over Pakistan, would they make a deal with ISIS? We can speculate about potential sellers but the bottom line is that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to hide the movement of nuclear weapons from those countries. These aren’t suitcase bombs. North Korea, for instance, has been unable so far to miniaturize its arsenal so that they can fit a nuclear device on a warhead. And India, who keeps very close track of Pakistan’s nuclear force, would know immediately if Pakistan was up to something with Islamic State.

That doesn’t lessen the danger from ISIS. But the west is dreaming if they think the weak half measures being used so far can stop or slow down Islamic State.They are going to have to be destroyed. And the question confronting policy makers is simple: Would it be better to confront Islamic State now, while they are relatively small and weak, or wait until they become vastly more powerful and the cost of defeating them skyrockets?