While there is little doubt inside the United States government that Iran's ultimate goal is to create a weapons capability, there is some skepticism about whether an Iranian government that is distracted by the fallout from a disputed presidential election would take that risky step, and how quickly it could overcome the remaining technological hurdles.
I've met thousands of former foster kids, a handful are millionaires, not one of them used their money to create a weapons arsenal, with matching costume and vehicles to fight crime.
Were two rough pieces of wood lashed together with twine to create a weapon, or a shelter?
A reclusive math genius, Nicolas Banacharski, was hired by an arms manufacturer to create a weapon that plays havoc with probability.
Prison guards in Prince William County, where Mr. Muhammad was held before trial, described efforts to escape, as well as to create a weapon from a spoon.
"One individual, working alone and in secret, can create a weapon of mass destruction," Martin Lindstedt, editor of The Modern Militiaman's Internet Gazette, wrote in 1998, for example.
Included will be "Killer Ring," a diamond ring set in reverse, with the point of the gemstone facing outward to create a weapon, and "Bullet Proof Rose," a brooch made of black Kevlar.
Iran has declared that all of the documents suggesting work on how to create a weapon that could fit atop an Iranian missile are "fabrications" intended to justify an attack.
"Probably the only thing we can do is create a weapon system and send it down 18,000 feet and detonate it, hopefully encasing the oil," Matt Simmons, a Houston energy expert and investment banker, told Bloomberg News on Friday, attributing the nuclear idea to "all the best scientists".
The United States has begun circulating ideas for possible sanctions among its closest allies on the Security Council and is hoping that Iran's announcement might convince China that Tehran's real purpose is to create a weapon, and not the civilian use of nuclear energy.
When you have large numbers of people ready to commit suicide, and ready to do it by making themselves into human bombs, using the most normal instruments of daily life -- an airplane, a car, a garage door opener, a cellphone, fertilizer, a tennis shoe -- you create a weapon that is undeterrable, undetectable and inexhaustible.
