When this story first broke, one commenter suggested that the weapons were being flown out of the country on the quiet, destined to be used against Iran. The truth was far more hideous.
What if the plane had crashed? B-52s are, after all, very old planes; the impact would likely crack the casings on the warheads' physics packages, leaking radiation *on American soil*. And I'm not just talking about the plutonium or oralloy; neutron initiators using polonium-210 are carried within those weapons.
My father, who was in the Army Air Defense Command and was an assistant firing officer for his post (a nuclear-armed Nike Hercules antiaircraft site overlooking New York City) would have been fucking appalled by this.
If the planes would have crashed, the bombs would not have detonated, I've been made to understand, but the leakage of radioactive material would have been a very serious problem.
this anit jsut the army, our goverment currently has an extreem disregard for security and procedures.
Imagine, just imagine, what the GOP (to say nothing of the media) would be howling about this little incident had it occured during a Democratic administration.
But with what we've currently got in place? If Bush were to suggest he appear live on CNN with Hillary, Obama and Edwards to brutally butt-fuck them, followed by them licking their own blood off his cowboy boots, those three would likely slap each other silly in their pathetic overeagerness to be the first one to Second the motion.
The issue for me is twofold. There existed a very, very specific chain of custody for the storage and transportation of nuclear weapons. It was engineered to be foolproof. The chain of custody of nuclear weapons is also part of the "trust and verify" negotiation of strategic arms limitation treaties.
Somehow, in the last two months, someone was able to break that chain of custody. It may be it was broken long before this. In any case, it was discovered, and (we believe) all of the nuclear weapons are accounted for.
I remain unconvinced.
Jesse's concern about the rotting of the system from inside is a valid hypothesis. However, I disagree.
I think the failure was engineered. I believe someone very high up in the U.S. Government -- civilian or military, it's hard to tell -- is trying to engineer a "false flag" use of nuclear weapons.
This is playing with fire in the most real sense, and I don't trust any of 'em -- the neocons, or the holy rollers -- to make decisions that represent the best interests of the Constitution and the American people.
It wasn't an accident. It was not a custodial failure.
These were being deployed to be used for a first strike on Iran, and someone in the chain leaked this.
The US has lost nuclear weapons before, the nukes off spain recovered by Alvin is a case in point.
In those cases, it took weeks if not months for the story to become public.
Here, an accounting error became public THAT DAY.
Someone leaked planning for a nuclear first strike on Iran.
Larry Johnson has a different view.
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/sep/
24/simple_error_my_ass
Sorry. Working Link
Link
People I am close to get mad at me when I comment on how badly broken our country has become, but nukes outside the chain of custody? What the hell?
Al The Spook Debunks Larry Johnson.
With Details.
Geez, sorry, here's Al The Spook's Link:
http://ratiocinatonsofasavagehea...-
misplaced.html
i got no link, & my memory's full of holes, but wasn't there an H bomb missing off the coast of Georgia a few years ago? wonder what ever happened w/ that...god, the only thing worse than nukes must be nukes in the hands of corrupt dipshits...
Tassawwuf, as I recall the pieces were recovered (as were the two lost off Spain and the one in Greenland).
larue,
From reading the link, I would say Larry and Al are in agreement that the WaPo article is a bullshit cover story. As to what the real story is neither of them are sure.
Oh, Jesse, I think we are already way past the "never be forgiven" point. We can only hope that the rest of the world has as shitty a memory as the average American voter.
i got no link, & my memory's full of holes, but wasn't there an H bomb missing off the coast of Georgia a few years ago? wonder what ever happened w/ that...god, the only thing worse than nukes must be nukes in the hands of corrupt dipshits...
Lost in 1958 near Tybee Island, GA. It was a Mark 15 H-bomb (yield 1.7-3.5 Mt) and it's still missing as are up to 13 other nuclear warheads.
The neutron initiator was supposedly removed from this bomb before it was flown on a training mission, which would prevent a nuclear detonation, but the highly enriched uranium and a few hundred pounds of high explosives were in it. Its exact location is still unknown, and the AF is reluctant to try to recover it for fear that the HE could go off and scatter contamination around.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tybee_Bomb
hey thanks Wanderer & Ktesibios (although reading more on the subject makes me feel decidedly not better)...i wonder if the dweebs in congress have considered that particular nuclear option...maybe they have, & that's why they're acting so dead...
I suspect that the military being stretched so thin has more to do with it. People may not have noticed, but when there started to be repeated deployments to the sandbox, a lot of Non-Comms and experienced personnel suddenly retired or quit. People like these would be the backbone of any nuclear babysitter service. With these people gone, and the military stretched so thin that sailors now are infantry in Ramadi, people are starting to make the mistakes that inexperienced tired people make. You aren't that experienced, so working on automatic may not be a good option. You're tired, so you miss something that needs to be done. Or you just pass something through just to end the endless day.
Not that I miss the possibility that this was not a mistake. But still, there are better and more secure delivery systems of a nuke to the Middle East than an old bomber.
We can only hope that the rest of the world has as shitty a memory as the average American voter.
Melanie
No chance of that. Not only do people in other countries have better memories than Americans, they are aslo infinitely more informed and aware of our government's malfeasance than we are. When the reckoning comes, there are people waiting to collect every penny of the bill. They aren't likely to discriminate between bush supporters and the rest of us, either, since there is no good way of telling the bad guys from the good. Or so our military keeps insisting.
But still, there are better and more secure delivery systems of a nuke to the Middle East than an old bomber.
Carol, that's quite true. But bear in mind that the warhead need not be affixed to a missile to be transported or detonated. Once removed from the bomber and missile, it could be transported in an automobile.
The fact that they were unaccounted for, and as it turns out, vulnerable to misappropriation, is the most worrisome aspect of this event.
Xeno: bullshit, the rest of the world is no difrent then us..and they have there own wackjob leaders to deal with....the only areas that have there memory jogged into hateing america are the owns with worse regimes then our own.
That's true. And it could have been disasterous if they had been deliberately misdirected to a buyer.
I know Wayne Madsen has the reputation of being a lefty yellow journalist, and perhaps deservedly so, but I present this not as something that is absolutely true, just interesting reading material germaine to the topic:
http://www.opednews.com/
articles..._52_nukes_l.htm
does anyone doubt that most Congressional Dems will cheer if Iran is nuked?
Gay Vet:
Me, not for a minute.
te nuclear energy is vary strong of boom what are nuclear boom?
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