This is London reports breathlessly that an Islamic extremist site has posted an image of nuclear terror:

Washington is laid to waste. The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead.

This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb.

The computer-generated image below was posted on an Islamic extremists’ website yesterday.

Here is the picture:

It is indeed a terrifying image.

But terror-wise, there’s just one problem.

It’s a concept drawing for the upcoming computer game Fallout 3, the latest in the beloved post-apocalyptic computer role playing series.

That, to me, sort of takes the edge off.

Observations:

1. Either someone put this up to scam media outlets, or Islamic terrorists are gamers as well.

2. Does the fact that Islamic terrorists have progressed from featuring Bert to featuring video game images mean they have graduated from toddlerhood to preadolescence? Can we expect some moody Indie album covers to appear on Al-Qaeda propaganda next?

(Note: some have already reported that the site was indie and not an “official” Al-Qaeda group. And as I discovered after I wrote almost all of this, The Fallout 3 Blog already picked up on this. Amusingly, they did so before This is London wrote the breathless prose above. And there are reports that at least one intelligence group was taken in.)

Hat tip to Farley of our forums on this one.

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