The Odds of Extremists Getting Pakistan's Nukes

Not exactly your Tuesday morning "feel good" moment when you read that Pakistan's nuclear weapons facilities have been attacked three times by Islamic extremists.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan's nuclear facilities have already been attacked at least thrice by its home-grown extremists and terrorists in little reported incidents over the last two years, even as the world remains divided over the safety and security of the nuclear weapons in the troubled country, according to western analysts.

The incidents, tracked by Shaun Gregory, a professor at Bradford University in UK, include an attack on the nuclear missile storage facility at Sargodha on November 1, 2007, an attack on Pakistan's nuclear airbase at Kamra by a suicide bomber on December 10, 2007, and perhaps most significantly the August 20, 2008 attack when Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew up several entry points to one of the armament complexes at the Wah cantonment, considered one of Pakistan's main nuclear weapons assembly.

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Pakistan insists that its nuclear weapons are fully secured and there is no chance of them falling into the hands of the extremists or terrorists.

No chance, eh?

That statement alone ought to chill your coffee. There is no chance that roosters will lay eggs, or that aliens will land at the Dept. of Treasury with a saucer loaded with ten tons of gold bullion as a gift to the American people.

But those jihadis are pretty determined. Their odds might be long, but I don't think they're zero.

Maybe we should take out Pakistan's nuclear capability. It would serve as a signature warning for other rambunctious nations in that area.

Then we could reassess those chances to be at zero.