The Western world has been shocked by Arab and Iranian terrorists who willingly blow themselves to Paradise while taking a few infidels to glory. The 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine compound in Beirut may be the most famous suicide terrorist attack of recent times, but it is by no means unique.
There exists a tradition, especially among Shiite Moslems, of suicidal action in the cause of Allah. In the twentieth century, TNT has replaced daggers. A high-explosive blast, however, is an inconsequential firecracker compared with "the suitcase from Allah," a terrorist-borne nuclear weapon. United States security analysts pale at the thought of Islamic terrorists acquiring a nuclear weapon by theft or black-market purchase. A nuke acquired by theft, from a United States nuclear-weapons igloo in West Germany, for example, is actually the least worrisome prospect. While the terrorists could grab a small tactical warhead (say, from a 155-mm howitzer shell), they would be hard pressed to detonate the device unless they also stole the weapon's activation codes. These codes, which activate and control supersecret PALs (permissive action links) on the weapon, are held in United States command channels. Unless the terrorist can break into a half dozen United States headquarters simultaneously, then know which one of several million potential codes goes with the precise warhead stolen, the nuclear weapon is just a hunk of uranium and high explosive. But it's a hunk that's good for a lot of headlines.
(from "A Quick & Dirty Guide To War" by James F. Dunnigan> & Austin Bay, copyright 1985 by James F. Dunnigan & Austin Bay)