Fred Thompson’s Made-For-Hollywood Terror Warning
Fred Thompson’s Made-For-Hollywood Terror Warning
Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) has dealt first-hand with nuclear weapons — on the Hollywood big screen. In 2005, he starred as President Charles Ross in Last Best Chance, a docudrama about terrorists trying to smuggle nuclear weapons into the United States.
One of Hollywood’s favorite plots is the threat of so-called suitcase nukes, like the one featured in the show “24.” But these nuclear bombs cleverly concealed in suitcases don’t exist in real life:
Nuclear bombs cleverly concealed in suitcases don’t exist in real life. Even so, they have long been a popular Hollywood plot point. [...]
Arms control expert Charles Thornton of the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland calls the scenario “so highly unlikely as to be approaching fantasy.”
It appears that Thompson is allowing his Hollywood experience to shape his budding presidential campaign. During an event in South Carolina yesterday, Thompson raised the made-for-Hollywood scenario of terrorist Cubans smuggling in “suitcase bombs”:
In his speech, Thompson assailed “unbearable tax burdens,” called for restrained spending, and argued for a smaller federal government. He expressed his opposition to the immigration bill in Congress and decried the flow of illegal immigrants from Cuba, saying: “I don’t imagine they’re coming here to bring greetings from Castro. We’re living in the era of the suitcase bomb.”
Thompson should focus on the real nuclear threats to the United States. A 2004 CRS report for Congress explained:
Scenarios for smuggling a nuclear weapon across unguarded coasts or borders are similar to those for smuggling bales of marijuana, many of which are reportedly flown in, brought by small boats, or carried across land borders; the difficulty of patrolling the borders makes such scenarios feasible.
You can take the man out of Hollywood, but you can’t take the Hollywood out of the man.
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June 28th, 2007 at 6:22 pmHe believes his own scripts now. Heh.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:26 pmZooey has a secret admirer!!!
No. It is not me this time.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:27 pm“It appears that Thompson is allowing his Hollywood experience to shape his budding presidential campaign….”
Since when was his campaign about anything but his Hollywood experience? As soon as it does, he stands no chance of winning. Another Republican from Tenn… what ever happend to Frist? Oh yeah, he’s way out of touch, too….
June 28th, 2007 at 6:28 pm#3: Indeed she has. :-D No doubt she’ll reply to this with something sharp, but I’ll still have a net-crush on her.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:31 pmAnd Cubans, among all things! Still in “Castro did in JFK” mode.
Also, I have a few grams of anti-lithium for sale. Anyone want?
June 28th, 2007 at 6:31 pm#3: Indeed she has. :-D No doubt she’ll reply to this with something sharp, but I’ll still have a net-crush on her.
Comment by TrollsForZooey
I love trolls. But, here’s the deal. Trolls only get three questions? Once answered they must let us cross the bridge.
Troll: ” Why do I sound so right?”
Answer: “Because you are right, in your own mind”
Troll: “When will I be understood”
Answer: When you can truly make sense”
Troll: Why do I like to change the subject”
Answer: Because you’d have to make a case for the subject at hand and that would be beyond your capability.
Let this be our standard response to trolls
June 28th, 2007 at 6:33 pmSomeone should point out that with the wet foot/dry foot policy, there is no such thing as illegal immigration from Cuba.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:35 pmFred Thompson can have President Cheney still on the job since Fred has no idea what to do. At lease Fred would do a better job then Bush as a White House Walmart Greeter. Just give Freddie a script to read and he can do it will believability. Gonzales can be reappointed as Attorney General, as Karl Rove puts the finishing touches on the one party system. Yes Fred is the man take can fool the American people again. It worked in two elections so Americans will must likely fall for this idiot to. The Mission is almost complete and Americans thought Bush was talking about Iraq.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:36 pmFred Thompson is incredibly out of touch with the reality of what’s going on in this country right now. He will be made chopped liver of when he declares his candidacy because he views life through the prism of Hollywood where he gets to be “the next superhero” – NOT!!
June 28th, 2007 at 6:37 pmSo what does Fred Thompson’s ticket look like now?
Fred Thompson / Jack Bauer – GOP 2008?
Secretary of State: Chuck Norris
DoD: Chuck Heston
Attorney General: (or Secretary of ‘faith-based initiatives’ maybe?) Tom Cruise
NSA: Ah-nold
DHS: cancerman from the X-Files
OK, make your own Fred Thompson in 2008 lists – GO!
June 28th, 2007 at 6:37 pmBesides, doesn’t Fred Thompson, literally, have one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave? How old is this coot anyway? Maybe he just looks much older than he is….actual age versus effective age??
June 28th, 2007 at 6:38 pmFred Thompson’s candidacy will be as laughable as Bush’s presidency. Is this the BEST the repukes have these days?? I fear so.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:39 pm…oh I forgot Mel Gibson. Dammit.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:39 pmOK, make your own Fred Thompson in 2008 lists – GO!
Comment by TerrytheTurtle
Day Fragrance: Old Spice
June 28th, 2007 at 6:40 pmChris Matthews Fragrance: Aqua Velva
Evening Fragrance: AXE
Stay at home Fragrance: Musty
It beats all the other propaganda being shunted out of Hollywood.
Any documentation of Muslimshiteaters ™ is a justified documentation.
I suppose that Mr. PiP agrees with me.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:41 pmMuslimshiteaters â„¢ You meant to say ‘untermensch’, right?
June 28th, 2007 at 6:52 pmOK, make your own Fred Thompson in 2008 lists – GO!
Comment by TerrytheTurtle
Well, you have to find some place for Bruce Willis in there. Who else will show us how “Live Free Or Die Hard”, if not the Brucester?
And what about Ron Silver, and of course, Dennis Miller?
June 28th, 2007 at 6:53 pm“#3: Indeed she has. :-D No doubt she’ll reply to this with something sharp, but I’ll still have a net-crush on her.” – free man
No hold on there. I got dibs on Zooey. I’m planning to ask her out to the next Fred Thomson blockbuster flick – a documentary of his presidential campaign titled “NextWorstChoice”. We can eat popcorn and hold hands during the scenes of ragheads detonating nuclear Nike sneaker bombs while crossing the Mexican border.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:53 pmOoops, sorry, I should have credited TrollsForZooey in that last post, not free man.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:55 pmThat’s OK. I’m a continent away, anyway.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:56 pmThe Thompson candidacy will be pure comedy from start to finish….and the latter will come sooner than the Rethugs think.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:58 pmjust what we need…another pretentious gazbag
Actually, the suitcase bomb does exist, but you have to petition M0ssad to get one. At least two such bombs have already been detonated in false-flag operations. It’s just like all the rest of Ysrael’s nuclear arsenal, we know that it exists, but we don’t mention it in polite company. But, since nobody cares about politeness here at TP, perhaps we can speak the truth. For all the naysayers, keep in mind that the technical obstacles to the suitcase bomb, which you can read about in Wikipedia, were all nicely resolved in the 90’s.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:58 pmI thought all those Cuban illegal immigrants were baseball players. They’re lucky to land with a baseball mitt, much less dragging a suitcase nuke.
What a loon!
June 28th, 2007 at 6:59 pm“That’s OK. I’m a continent away, anyway.” – TrollsForZooey
Don’t give up hope. The way things are going, we all may be seeking asylum in your neighborhood soon.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:00 pmDay Fragrance: Old Spice
Chris Matthews Fragrance: Aqua Velva
Evening Fragrance: AXE
Stay at home Fragrance: Musty
Comment by Zooey
June 28th, 2007 at 7:02 pmGot it.
Thompson- like all repukes has played the fear card. Yes, we do need to be fearful of our security, but don’t let the rightwing asswipes get elected off of it again or WWIII will be here in short order.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:08 pmWhat has happened to this country? Are we irresistably drawn to put major head-cases in power? Regan wasn’t bad enough, now we’re seriously thinking about putting another maniac ex-actor in charge! There has Got to be someone sane, and sensible and electable out there! At least Fred’s handlers let the leash slip and we got a chance to see what’s going in in his head.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:12 pmI hate repubs playing the fear card as much as the next guy, but my common sense tells me the threat of a suitcase bomb or dirty bomb detonating on American soil is more than just Hollywood fantasy. I wouldn’t be so dismissive, although i highly doubt any nuclear threat comes from Cuba.
FYI, LAST BEST CHANCE is not a Hollywood movie. It was made as a lobbying tool to give to policy makers.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:22 pmWe can eat popcorn and hold hands during the scenes of ragheads detonating nuclear Nike sneaker bombs while crossing the Mexican border.
Comment by gorn by any other name
I’ll bring the rotten tomatoes. :)
June 28th, 2007 at 7:26 pmFact: Dirty bombs can be the size of suitcases.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:26 pm#2 He believes his own scripts now. Heh.
Comment by Zooey — June 28, 2007 @ 6:26 pm
Just like Runny Raygun. The repugniscums need another actor to “save” their stupid a$$es!
A chimp would be better than Thompson The Idiot Actor!!!
Nice try repugniscums and MSM…try again losers!!!
Thompson is as dumb as GW Botch and that’s what scares me…he just might get annointed by the MSM and morons in the Bible belt that can’t think for themselves!!!
June 28th, 2007 at 7:29 pm#10 He will be made chopped liver of when he declares his candidacy because he views life through the prism of Hollywood where he gets to be “the next superhero†– NOT!!
I agree and it’s really worst. This is a guy who can see the world through the Hollywood lens, as you pointed out, and also views the world through the corrupt insider lens of a WASHINGTON, D.C. a$$hole!!!
I’m pretty sure he a CUA!!
June 28th, 2007 at 7:36 pm#19
No[w] hold on there. I got dibs on Zooey. I’m planning to ask her out to the next Fred Thomson blockbuster flick – a documentary of his presidential campaign titled “NextWorstChoiceâ€. We can eat popcorn and hold hands during the scenes of ragheads detonating nuclear Nike sneaker bombs while crossing the Mexican border.
Comment by gorn by any other name — June 28, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
gorn by any other name,
You are such a romantic…(swoon…)
I feel faint…
June 28th, 2007 at 7:42 pm#23
Comment by stonehinge — June 28, 2007 @ 6:58 pm
Links?….Evidence?…Maybe you’re confusing this with a dirty bomb in a suitcase instead of an actual armed nuke?….
June 28th, 2007 at 7:46 pmWhat intrigues me, is that without even declaring, he is the best candidate, according to many polls.
The Repugs are SOO looking for the ghost of Ronnie Boy, that they are sucking in Fred Flintstone’s every word. I guess they feel they can channel him through Fred, but they better hurry up, he may not make it to 08 anyway. A lotta miles on that Tennessee mule, lobbying on K street and making B- movies and tv shows!
I think I will go get my popcorn and ju ju beans to watch this comedy unfold.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:50 pmDid anyone else notice that Thompson’s co-star as listed on the movie poster is Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite?
June 28th, 2007 at 7:59 pmI can’t vote for Fred Thompson. He has those icky Hollywood values I keep hearing about…
June 28th, 2007 at 8:11 pmIt beats all the other propaganda being shunted out of Hollywood.
Any documentation of Muslimshiteaters â„¢ is a justified documentation.
I suppose that Mr. PiP agrees with me.
Comment by CT V_1 — June 28, 2007 @ 6:41 pm
I do.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:15 pmMuslimshiteaters ™ You meant to say ‘untermensch’, right?
Comment by TerrytheTurtle — June 28, 2007 @ 6:52 pm
No. This is plural so “untermenschen”
June 28th, 2007 at 8:19 pmSounds like Thompson is shooting from the hip without his script. It ought to go over Big with the 28% loyal Bushies.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:24 pmSpeaking of suitcase nukes, anybody remember “Wrong is Right?” Suitcase nukes were featured prominantly in that film. When one of them was found in a US city, the president sent a full military invasion after the guy who planted them. Of course, as it was revealed at the end of the film – he hadn’t planted them. It was all simply an excuse to invade. Ever wonder why no one shows that film these days?
June 28th, 2007 at 8:38 pmCould Thompson being drawing indirect attention to this video, so that many uninformed viewers would believe he could be president, if he can credibly “act” the part ????
Come on, America, wake up!
June 28th, 2007 at 8:42 pmThis could be a cloaked (albeit not that well…) attempt to pander to the fearfully paranoid far right wing of the republican party, so he can gain a leg up if he enters their primaries?
Of course—it’s called presidential exploratory committee–has one now.
Come on, America, wake up!
June 28th, 2007 at 8:44 pmDo you people know who produced the short film in question?
http://www.nti.org
That would be Senator Nunn , Ted Turner and Warren Buffet, some of the most conservative guys around.
Nice job of doing yet another poor job TP.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:55 pmOh yeah, a “suitcase bomb” includes any nuke that is easily transportable [in a car lets say]. Such technology has existed before most of the site admins here were born.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:59 pmha!! – is this the best that the repubs can do for a potential president?? – i agree that suitcase bombs exist – i saw it it another great movie about terrorism – ‘team america world police’
June 28th, 2007 at 9:46 pmIt was vogue for some time to believe Lebed’s testimony that the Russians had over 100 suitcase bombs in the US.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:00 pmThompson is an actor, so he believes in fantasy and Hollywood baloney.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:16 pmThe W54 warhead used on the Davy Crockett weighed just 51 pounds and was the smallest and lightest fission bomb (implosion type) ever deployed by the United States, with a variable explosive yield of 0.01 kilotons (equivalent to 10 tons of TNT, or two to four times as powerful as the ammonium nitrate bomb which destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995), or 0.02 kilotons-1 kiloton. A 58.6 pound variant?the B54?was used in the Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM), a nuclear land mine deployed in Europe, South Korea, Guam, and the United States from 1964-1989.
http://tinyurl.com/flxwt
June 28th, 2007 at 10:27 pmThe neocons are looking for another Reagan. A grade B movie actor that believed the missle shield would work because they used it in a movie he was in. We all know that it has never worked and will never work.
I don’t think we need another Reagan.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:37 pmWe’ve made great strides in this area and will continue to do so. Leave your political bias out of the arena of technological innovation.
In other words, stop talking out of your @ss.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:08 pmWTF?!
June 29th, 2007 at 12:20 amFrist there seems to be a good deal of trash cynicism out here. But, it is only outweighted by the lack of insight. A variety of “suitcase” type weapons DO exist and have for a while. It does NOT mean they come in a suitcase. It is an indication of the portability of it. Nothiong more, nothing less. However, even if it did not exist at this moment, most of the science fiction weapons of the 40s, 50s and 60s are real live weapons today. Only an idiot would disregard the potential of danger.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:42 amArms control expert Charles Thornton of the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland calls the scenario “so highly unlikely as to be approaching fantasy.
Your quote appears to be incomplete TP.
Did he follow this up by distinguishing between the suitcase nukes he says are fantasy and the very real suitcase-sized nuclear weapons developed by both the US and Russia that have been well documented and referenced for quite some time ?
The US model is well known. Interestingly, the #1 search result for the Russian model number is Hillary.org.
More interesting is that you can’t find “Charles Thornton” ever mentioning the existance of these weapons. Which may be a massive fkn hint as to how clued in this “expert” is.
The primary question raised here is under what circumstance does some random arms control expert (who’s #4 google result is this page in year 15 of the internet) who’s never referred to such weapons before, get the final say on the this ?
Whether something the National Security Advisor of the USSR, the KGB, the GRU and US intelligence officials have all referred to the existance of, as non-existant ?
Fkn strange concept of authoritive sources around here TP. Anything I can declare non-existant (that I’m an “expert” on while never having referred to before now) while we are at it that you’ll reprint as though it were fact ?
I can work a Fred Thompson reference in if that’s all that’s required for you to compromise your standards.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:54 amAnd 5 minutes of searching finds spokesmen for the US DoD referring to confirmation from their Russian counterparts confirming that there were no such losses of suitcase nukes…….
…..because their security controls for their suitcase nukes are excellent.
Which comes after the Russian explanation that these were missing becuase they were destroyed rather than lost.
To go along with the US statements that they are “certainly aware” of these devices having been developed by the Russians.
But all that is of course rendered redundant by this random wanker you’ve quoted here as a expert on a topic he has never referred to in published works before now, declaring them non-existant.
Do you not feel you now have a journalistic responsibility to inform the DoD about this new information TP ?
Shouldn’t they be told that the existance of things they’ve been referring to in public statements for at least 10 years has now been declared fictional by Random Non-Specific Quote Guy ?
June 29th, 2007 at 5:08 amI’m all for you guys, but “suitcase bombs” does not equal “suitcase nuclear bombs,” and like other commentors have said, the claim that a “suitcase nuke” isn’t possible or practical isn’t very well-supported here.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:55 amOK – I can go along with many things but this one takes the cake. You all are “inDUHvidualsâ€! If any one of you bothered to take the time to read the actual information on the movie you will see that it was “produced with support from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, with additional funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation†(NOT EXACTLY RIGHT WING ARE THEY???)
Furthermore the focus of the discussion on the DVD is the need to get more Gov’t intervention to secure the stockpiles of radiological materials in the former Soviet Union.
Finally, look at the comments from the website:
“What They’re Saying About
Last Best Chance
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett told his shareholders to watch Last Best Chance, calling it “a fictional but not fanciful†scenario.
“Last Best Chance can increase awareness of the global nuclear terrorism threat. The war on terrorism will not be won until every nuclear stockpile, wherever it may be in the world, is secured and accounted for to stringent and transparent standards.â€
–Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
“When people are moving too slowly to respond to a danger, one option is to make it more vivid. Seeing the danger is the first step to reducing the risk.â€
—Ted Turner, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative
“A wake-up call for America and the world. We need an all-out effort to lock up weapons-grade nuclear material scattered throughout dozens of countries around the world. If we act now, we can protect the American people and prevent disaster.â€
—9/11 Commission Chair and Vice Chair, Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamiltonâ€
I am more than willing to take to task any right (or left) wingnut, as are most of us moderate Americans. So grow up, check the facts (even if you have to expend some energy) and then make a comment. [This sort of knee-jerk response and blind agreement is what got us into this stupid second front in Iraq.]
Forgive me if I have offended anyone, but this just happens to be my “button†and it got pushed hard with this. Peace.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:02 pmPersonally, I believe if the U.S. gets nuked, it’ll have been by:
June 29th, 2007 at 5:23 pma) Pakistan
b) U.S. CIA/Mossad/Oil Cos./Neo-cons in a false-flag operation.
If you think the latter sounds like a paranoid fantasy, be assured that I used to think that way too. However, looking at what’s been going on in Lebanon lately and knowing what I now know, it’s not paranoid. It’s, unfortunately, quite possible.
By the way, another definition of “dirty bomb” is depleted uranium munition, which the U.S. has used all over Iraq. Wait until the results of that really start hitting the news.
Yes, he’s a nut case, but he’s also the average republican.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:53 pm“Wait until the results of that really start hitting the news.”
Ha ha, you’re dreaming! A real news story? Out of our lying corporate media?? That’s a good one.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:54 pm“…no, no fred, you don’t have to push any buttons or blow anything up in this scene-you just have to tell john mcclain to rack, stack and pack the FAKE nuclear warheads we have on the set.”
June 30th, 2007 at 12:14 am