Now is the time to get your runners on!! NUKES
Lindorff: Were Those Nukes headed for Iran?
There’s something definitely screwy about the August 30 incident in which a B-52 bomber flew from Minot AFB in North Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana carrying five fully armed Advanced Cruise Missiles, each equipped with nuclear bombs capable of exploding at anything from 5 kilotons to 150 kilotons.
The government has been quick to say that the flight, which violated a number of long-standing orders regarding shipment of nuclear weapons in US airspace, was a “mistake.”
But was it a mistake?
The biggest question is why a B-52 armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles would fly to Barksdale AFB. If, as reported, the weapons were being transported to be decommissioned, which supposedly is the destination for 400 of these doomsday weapons, then they should have been destined for Kirtland AFB in Texas, near the Panax plant in Amarillo, TX, where they would be dismantled. As Michael Salla writes in a disturbing piece in Saturday’s edition of OpEdNews (http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_michael__070907_was_a_covert_att...), the weapons should also not have been flown at all on a B-52, as there have been standing orders for 40 years against such flights over US soil, following several accidents in which bombs or nuclear-armed rockets were lost because “broken arrow” incidents including inadvertent bomb drops or crashes. A second order, issued in 1991 at the end of the Cold War by George Bush’s father, barred the loading of nuclear weapons on any bomber. Any pilot would have known this, as would any ground support people loading the missiles on the B-52.
According to Salla, if these five cruise missiles were really being transported by air to Texas for decommissioning, they should have been disarmed and flown in specially designed transport planes that are built to resist nuclear leakage in the event of a crash. They would never be transported under the wings of a B-52.
What makes the incident even more suspicious is that Barksdale AFB is a staging area for B-52s being sent to the Middle East for combat duty. As the website GlobalSecurity.org (http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/facility/barksdale.htm)reports: “Barksdale Air Force Base is headquarters for the 2d Bomb Wing, Eighth Air Force and 917th Wing. The 2d Bomb Wing provides global combat capability and trains all B-52 combat crews.”
The official Barksdale AFB website (http://www.barksdale.af.mil/) says: “Barksdale warriors and B-52s have a proud tradition serving both at home and abroad in support of the Global War on Terrorism; they have played vital roles in combat operations supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom.”
The original expose of the B-52 flight appeared in the newspaper Army Times (http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/09/marine_nuclear_B52_070904w/). Staff writer Michael Hoffman writes that his initial source for the story was three officers “who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.”
So this is a case where some military officers who knew something wrong was happening did the honorable, patriotic thing and went public with a publication they trusted, both to do the right thing, and to protect them.
So what is going on here?
Salla suggests the worst: that this was likely a deliberate action, ordered through a chain of command outside the Pentagon. Salla notes that it has been widely reported that the top brass in the US military (note: with the exception of some wackoes in the Air Force), have staunchly opposed any use of nuclear weapons in the event of an air attack on Iran. So an order to send nuclear-armed cruise missiles to the Persian Gulf region, if that’s what this flight was, would not likely have come through the normal chain of command from the Secretary of Defense through the Strategic Air Command. It would, Salla hints darkly, have come through the back channel set up since even before 9-11 by Vice President Dick Cheney, who is known to be pushing for an attack on Iran, and who would like nothing better than to use nuclear weapons to disable Iran’s nuclear processing facilities.
We’re talking about treason here, if Salla is right.
And the seriousness of what happened—five nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, in firing position, flown across the width of the continental US in violation of all standing orders to a base that is a staging area for B-52 flights to the Persian Gulf war zone—demands a full public investigation...
...Salla suggests that behind the scenes, Gates and the generals, who clearly distrust and dislike the vice president and who don’t want an Iran attack, will use this incident to go after the vice president and force him into a “medical” resignation. He says that the exposure of the flight will also put any attack on Iran on hold, because military leaders will be worried that there are other nuclear weapons that have been introduced into the equation secretly, either for use in Iraq or for a “black flag” operation against US forces.
Let us hope so they are right, and that this will be Cheney’s undoing... [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Democrats.com>
I have resisted this story for a couple of days. I've heard the buzz, but I was not aware that the information came from a leak by military personnel, and the only sources I have been able to find were not ones i consider credible... until now. The author's insistence that Cheney is the person behind it is pure speculation, without direct evidence to support it. But it's good speculation, sue to the indirect evidence that supports it. What is fact is that someone ordered nuclear weapons illegally and secretively transported to the staging base for the Persian Gulf. It is also fact that the cover story provided by the Bush Reich is a lie. While we do not know the exact manner in which Bush intended to use these nuclear weapons, we can be certain that his intent is nefarious. This is the best cause for impeachment yet!
10 opinions:
Lady Broadoak said...
Well, you know what I think about this. I think this is HUGE. And part of a big "connect the dots" piece. But to come up with WHAT? One blogger suggested PREPAREDNESS. I think we ARE prepared. The indications were already in place that September would be a HUGE news month, the trick is to make a news month for the sane to take back their civil rights and rights to life.
Are we just being "had" and a little test has been run to see just what we can all put up with? All the saber ratting about Iran MAYBE coming into nuke the US, just suddenly pales in comparison.
People somehow forget that in the old USSR, it wasn't the economic collapse that brought them due to military spending (ring any bells?) but the literal fallout from CHERNOBYL. The perception was that the place/leaders were SO crazy, that they let a nuclear plant just blow up. Who cared what revolution/ revolt caused, they were gonna die anyway.
So now America is going to have to come face to face with literal insanity in their midst. Where will that take THEM; this isn't just about blaming the Big Boys, this is about our survival!! It hits too close to home as anything could have happened and even the powers that be might have gone up in nuclear ash. Time to come out of our SHOCK on this one.
When the PTB's lives are on the line, THEN they take action, only then. We might find we suddenly have more allies among those with any imagination at all.
So I think that the pressure on this must be applied and starting with the demos on the 15th, I am certain there will be placards, signs, teeshirts as people come out of the shock that everyone will be forced to deal with.
I still think the corporate dogs of war media -- Alex Jones calls them mediawhores -- will be slow to react so we have to BARK loud and long until we get heard that it is truly time for impeachment, war tribunals, lawsuits, general strikes ... whatever it takes. In the Soviet Republics the women just went in and took over the radio/TV stations. As wolfy says, it can all change in a half day, like water running downhill ...
We must keep blogging on this. And watch the anti-nukes mothers get into HIGH GEAR now.
So this is a case where some military officers who knew something wrong was happening did the honorable, patriotic thing and went public with a publication they trusted, both to do the right thing, and to protect them.
This is frightening new! However, it is of some comfort to read that there are some honorable military officers.
Yet another reason to impeach, but will the Democratic leadership find their spine? "Let's Talk has a video of of Keith Olbermann interview with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson and what he says should be repeated over and over again:
"I'm disconcerted and very concerned about the fact that the democrats seem to be so cowed by the Republican tactic of saying 'Aha, you're weak on national security!' Anytime they speak sensibly about the situation in Iraq or for that matter Afghanistan too, or for that matter the entire national security situation for this country, they don't seem able to articulate a clear vision that would be contrary to the lack of vision that is coming out of the White House and it's appalling that we can't find any leadership within the Democratic Party to do that".
This sounds very much like a "broken arrow" in a large scale form. I do believe that we have a battle going on in the Pentagon. There are the Cheney pro war supporters and those with the good sense to know that striking Iran may set off a nuclear holocaust which once begun, may lead to WWIII.
Of course, Bush is totally oblivious to what is going on while he's on vacation. I don't think it's an accident that this occurred when Bush was taking his hiatus. When the cat's away the rats will play...and they're playing a very dangerous game.
Bush is as an empty suit and hollow-headed face as Gonzales. Like Fredo fronting for Rove, Bush is just a puppet fronting Cheney.
This is an extremely disconcerting story. I don't trust the MSM to give it the legs it deserves.
I heard of this incident, but naively took the report at face value (e.g., mistake made while transporting for destruction).
This now gives me the same kind of chill I get when watching Fail Safe (either version).
This administration, whether it be Cheney or Bush, is hell-bent on sending us into a nuclear confrontation with Iran. Will they return fire to the US? Probably not. Israel will be the target and Israel also has nukes.
Every country in the middle east should be shaking in their boots and stepping up to resolve the on-going conflicts. They only have their countries to lose for however long the radiation half-life makes them uninhabitable.
If several Generals stood together they could open this crew up. There are so many impeachable offenses, so many acts of treason, yet no one seems to be able to bring forth hard evidence.
I already said that IF we can get rid of them in 2009 I wouldn't be surprised to see bush run to Paraguay to avoid prosecution. Cheney? He's always in hiding in one of his "undisclosed locations". Maybe he'll just disappear.
The next president's (if we get one) first order of business should be to set up a HUGE investigatory team to go back through the last eight years, even if it takes eight more years and bring them to justice to face national and international charges.
I'm dreaming. They'll both ride off into the sunset loaded with blood and oil money and the promise of cocaine happy days filled with pedophilia fun for the rest of their lives.
I've said from the begining, this is no 'mistake'.
I'm still trying to verify what Hal Turner had to say:
"THE LIVE WARHEADS WERE REMOVED FROM THEIR SECURE NUCLEAR STORAGE SAFES AFTER ENTRY AND CONFIRMATION OF PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORIZATION!"
If there is any truth to this, this is huge.
Tomcat, thanks for posting this. I'd heard about it too but until you showed the sources I, like you, was not sure whether it was true. This is very scary - reminds me of 7 Days in May but instead of the military taking over and being stopped by a president with integrity ("Tell those planes to stand down," said Frederic March), we have a president or vice president (most likely) probably sending the planes out on an evil mission.
And tell me WHY has this president and his cronies not been impeached yet? Nixon had nothing on them.
Scary.
Tomcat,
With respect.
Hate to rate a "toldja" on that when I broached on the possibility of the Air Force acting on its own (my comment to you a few blogs back).
Anyway, though my own blog is not political per se, I've added some politics today.
Cheers,
Ivan
Let us hope so they are right, and that this will be Cheney’s undoing...
Let us hope so they are right, and that this will be Cheney’s undoing...
Let us hope so they are right, and that this will be Cheney’s undoing...
Thanks for my new meditative mantra!
Damn, but this story is frightening! Bu$hCo is actually closer to using nukes then even Reagan ever was!
But, gee whiz, I wonder why I didn't read in the WaPo or NYTimes???
{shudder}