George Bush 'Incompetence' Makes Nuclear Terrorism More Likely, Claims Author in New Book

A new novel about an Al-Qaeda plot to destroy America's largest cities with nuclear weapons presents a thinly disguised George Bush as the incompetent Commander in Chief who fails to act decisively when presented with growing evidence that the next 9/11 is imminent.

The author of "King of Bombs," a novel about nuclear terrorism, Sheldon Filger, was living in New York City on September 11, 2001. In a series of radio interviews which followed the fourth anniversary of 9/11, Filger spoke about an incident which occured a month after Al-Qaeda's attack on the World Trade Center.

"Four weeks after 9/11, rumors circulated that government scientists were roaming the streets of Manhattan with radiation detectors," Filger told Detroit radio talk show host Warren Pierce. "It later transpired that the rumors were true," he added.

Indeed, the CIA had received information from a trusted informant that Al-Qaeda had succeeded in infiltrating a ten kiloton nuclear device into New York City, and would soon detonate it. Though the information turned out to be a false alarm, it initially had sufficient credibility to send Vice President Cheney to a "secure, undisclosed location" to ensure continuity of government in the event that Washington D.C. came under nuclear attack by Al-Qaeda. It was that incident which made Mr. Filger aware of the risk of future terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction. He conducted his own research into the threat of nuclear terrorism. His conclusion that the threat is not only significant, but also imminent, inspired him to write "King of Bombs" as a warning about a dark new future which awaits America, unless the nation takes the issue of nuclear terrorism far more seriously (www.kingofbombs.com).

In "King of Bombs," the President and key officials go unamed, however, it is clear to the reader that they are thinly veiled representations of President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The presidential administration portrayed in Filger's novel is characterized by incompetence, cronyism and a short-sighted obsession with image and public relations at the expense of dealing the nation's most compelling national security issues. The White House characters in Filger's novel echo his own evaluation of the current President.

"In my opinion, there exists two great vulnerabilities America has with respect to nuclear terrorism," Filger said. " In the first place, a fanatical, but highly effective terrorist network, known as Al-Qaeda, has the clear intention and likely capacity to acquire and use nuclear weapons in a future attack on the American homeland. Secondly, the man most responsible for protecting America from such an apocalyptic threat, President Bush, sadly lacks the intellect and strategic insight to comprehend the threat, as well as the strength of character and leadership accumen to address the threat decisively. At this extremely dangerous period in American history, the man whose hand is on the helm of the ship of state is a vapid mediocrity, apparently clueless with respect to the imminent and catastrophic threat posed to the nation's very existence by nuclear terrorism."

As evidence of the failure of the Bush administration to effectively confront the danger of Al-Qaeda acquiring highly enriched uranium or plutonium (the essential raw materials for building a nuclear bomb), Mr. Filger pointed to the lackluster implementation of the Nunn-Lugar Threat Reduction Initiative, a government program approved by Congress to help the Russian authorities improve the security of their facilities where dangerous nuclear materials are stored. "At the current lethargic pace that the Threat Reduction Initiative is being funded and implemented, it is estimated that it will take another thirteen years before all these Russian nuclear sites are secured from theft by Al-Qaeda, or black marketers who would sell plutonium or highly enriched uranium to terrorists. I don't believe we can afford to wait 13 years," Filger told Oklahoma City radio talk show host Mark Shannon.

Most experts who have examined the issue of nuclear terrorism concur that Al-Qaeda would be able to build or acquire nuclear weapons, if it can obtain fissile materials-enriched uranium or plutonium. Keeping these materials out of the hands of the terrorists is regarded as the only reliable means of preventing nuclear terrorism. While Al-Qaeda cannot manufacture these materials itself, there are large quantities available throughout the world. Organizations such as the Nuclear Threat Initiative have pointed out that enough enriched uranium and plutonium is stored at poorly secured locations in Russia to build 60,000 nuclear weapons.

In "King of Bombs," the war in Iraq is presented as a diversion from focussing on Al-Qaeda and its affiliate terrorist organizations, and the potential for nuclear terrorism. "In reality, that is actually the case," Filger said. "A vast proportion of the nations's military and intelligence assets have been devoted to a meaningless war in Iraq, justified by the claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, since proven false. In the meantime, where are the presidential priorities with respect to the nuclear weapons programs that are evolving in North Korea and Iran, or to securing the nation's borders and ports, or neutralizing Osama bin Laden? I believe history will judge the Iraqi debacle by the Bush administration as one of the most monumental strategic miscalculations made by any major power in modern history. Its nightmarish consequences will be longlasting and likely devastating."