PDA

View Full Version : United States keeps the nukes coming.....



Good Doctor HST
07-15-2005, 07:49 PM
From CommonDreams.org






Published on Friday, July 15, 2005 by Agence France Presse (http://www.afp.com/)





US Still Pursuing Nuclear Options 60 Years After First Bomb



Sixty years after the first atomic bomb was tested in the New Mexico desert, the United States still has some 2,000 nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert and is considering new weapons such as earth-penetrating bunker busters.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/images/0715-01.jpg
A nuclear cloud. Sixty years after the first atomic bomb was tested in the New Mexico desert, the United States still has some 2,000 nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert and is considering new weapons such as earth-penetrating bunker busters. (AFP/File)
The US administration has agreed to pare back its nuclear arsenal from about 10,000 warheads today to about 6,000 in 2012 under the Moscow Treaty reached with Russia in 2001.

But even as it moves to retire much of its Cold War arsenal, it has pressed a reluctant Congress for funds for nuclear bunker-buster studies, refurbished nuclear testing facilities, and a facility to build the plutonium triggers for new weapons.

The US Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska, is reported to be developing "global strike" options, including a nuclear option, against potential adversaries with nuclear weapons such as Iran and North Korea.

More than 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, nuclear weapons "are alive and well," said Robert S. Norris, an expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council (http://www.nrdc.org/), an arms control and environmental advocacy group.

Norris points to the administration's Nuclear Posture Review of 2001 as "the revealing document" that shows its intention to use nuclear weapons to counter a new cast of potential adversaries armed with weapons of mass destruction.

The review called for a "new triad" in which conventional and nuclear forces would be meshed in a "global strike" capability, enabling the United States to respond to a threat anywhere in the world on very short notice.

It envisioned more precise long-range missiles armed with conventional warheads as well as smaller, lower yield nuclear tips.

The other parts of the triad are missile defense systems and a revived infrastructure of weapons labs and production facilities that had deteriorated since the end of the Cold War.

"So the vision of the Bush administration is that we are going to need nuclear weapons well out into the middle of the 21st century, and beyond. I mean for decades to come," said Norris.

But the administration appears not to have counted on Representative David Hobson.

The Ohio Republican, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Energy Department's nuclear weapons programs, stunned the administration by rejecting last year's request for new nuclear weapons funding.

He nixed nine million dollars in funding for research into new low yield "mini-nukes;" denied another 27.6 million dollars request for study of a Robust Nuclear Earth-Penetrating Weapon; and put off a request for another 30 million dollars for a new plant to manufacture the plutonium pits that trigger nuclear explosions.

"The development of new weapons for ill-defined future requirements is not what the nation needs at this time," Hobson said in a speech February 3 to the Arms Control Association.

"What is needed, and what is absent to date, is leadership and fresh thinking for the 21st Century regarding nuclear security and the future of the US stockpile," he said.

The United States currently has 5,300 operational nuclear warheads, and another 5,300 in reserve, said Victoria Sampson, an expert at the Center for Defense Information.

"We have about 2,000 which are on hair trigger alert, which means they can be ready to go within minutes of that decision to launch," she said.



Hobson and others are worried that new nuclear weapons initiatives could lower the threshold for their use, and warned it would send the wrong signal at a time when the United States was demanding that North Korea and Iran stop their weapons programs.

But the administration has struck back with a request for 8.5 million dollars of renewed funding for the nuclear earth penetrator in 2006.

It also has asked for 25 million dollars to get its Nevada test site ready to resume testing in 18 months if needed, instead of the 24 to 36 months it would currently take. Those requests are working their way through Congress where opposition remains strong.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld argued that only "very large, very dirty nuclear bombs" could now destroy the increasing numbers of facilities that potential adversaries have buried deep underground.

"So the choice is: do we want to have nothing and only a large, dirty nuclear weapon, or would we rather have something in between. That is the issue," he said in April. "It seems to me studying it makes all the sense in the world," he said. But scientists warn that no earth-penetrating nuclear weapon could bore deep enough to trap devastating fallout that the National Academy of Sciences has concluded would still kill more than a million people on the surface if it was near a densely populated urban area.

Gold9472
07-15-2005, 08:03 PM
Where to begin...

I am not saying that Nuclear power has not been beneficial to the world. I am saying that Nuclear power when used as a weapon is not. I don't know that Hiroshima, and Nagasaki were necessary. I know the outcome stopped the war, and that's a good thing, but so many innocent people died as a result. Was the sacrifice worth it? If the predictions for American dead as a result of the war exceeded the number dead from a nuclear attack, then maybe, but I wasn't there. I don't know.

I have always thought that the "Nuclear Option" was ONLY to be used as the absolute, FINAL resort. What the Bush Administration is doing is not only wrong, but criminal in nature. David Hobson knows this.

Gold9472
07-15-2005, 08:10 PM
This isn't good enough?

U.S. tests massive bomb
Designed for use in 'psychological operations'

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/11/sprj.irq.moab/

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/US/03/11/sprj.irq.moab/story.moab.cloud.jpg
The MOAB, privately known in military circles as "the mother of all bombs," has been under development since late last year.

From Barbara Starr
CNN Washington Bureau
Tuesday, March 11, 2003 Posted: 10:33 PM EST (0333 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Air Force Tuesday tested the biggest conventional bomb in the military's arsenal, dropping the new 21,000-pound device on a test site at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, U.S. officials said.

The Pentagon hopes the test will pave the way for use of the bomb -- should there be a war in Iraq -- against critical targets on the surface and underground.

The new Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, was dropped from a military transport plane over a test site at Eglin, 60 miles east of Pensacola, Florida, just after 2 p.m.

It was the final test of the new Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, and the first to use actual explosives. Two previously undisclosed tests, one in February and one on Friday, were inert.

The Air Force released video of the Tuesday's test, which showed the bomb falling through the sky and bursting into a massive fireball upon impact. A cloud of smoke then rose hundreds of feet into the sky.

The video was released in hopes of placing additional pressure on the Iraqi military, officials said.

"The goal is to have the pressure be so great that Saddam Hussein cooperates," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters. "Short of that -- an unwillingness to cooperate -- the goal is to have the capabilities of the coalition so clear and so obvious that there is an enormous disincentive for the Iraqi military to fight against the coalition."

The National Earthquake Information Center said it found no seismic activity as a result of the explosion, as some in the military had indicated might occur. A 10,000-foot cloud had been expected and local residents had been warned of possible loud noise.

Kathy Fite, a waitress at the International House of Pancakes in Fort Walton Beach, about 20 miles from the test site, said she heard the explosion, but it did not rattle the restaurant's windows or shake the ground.

She described the explosion as loud, but "not real loud." Fite said the blast was comparable to the sound of warships that sometimes test fire in the area.

Pentagon officials said they were examining results of the test to determine whether it worked as designed.

MOAB, privately known in military circles as "the mother of all bombs," has been under development since late last year. The bomb carries 18,000 pounds of tritonal explosives, which have an indefinite shelf life. It replaces the Vietnam-era "Daisy Cutter," a 15,000-pound bomb with 12,600 pounds of the less-powerful GSX explosives.

As originally conceived, the MOAB was to be used against large formations of troops and equipment or hardened above-ground bunkers. The target set has also been expanded to include deeply buried targets.

But military officials tell CNN that the MOAB is mainly conceived as a weapon employed for "psychological operations." Military officials say they hope the MOAB will create such a huge blast that it will rattle Iraq troops and pressure them into surrendering or not even fighting. Officials suggest perhaps the Iraqis might even mistake a MOAB blast for a nuclear detonation.

The MOAB is deployed on a pallet from a C-130 aircraft. It initially has a parachute, but as it deploys, the Inertial Navigation System and Global Positioning System take over. The bomb also has wings and grid fins for guidance.

princesskittypoo
07-15-2005, 09:19 PM
i remember hearing of this moab bomb. it's the closest thing they have to a nuke. and when used it looks similar. so it'd scare the bejeezes out of someone anyway.

Gold9472
07-15-2005, 09:23 PM
i remember hearing of this moab bomb. it's the closest thing they have to a nuke. and when used it looks similar. so it'd scare the bejeezes out of someone anyway.

Hence, the "Designed for use in 'psychological operations' in the title. ;)

princesskittypoo
07-15-2005, 09:47 PM
Hence, the "Designed for use in 'psychological operations' in the title. ;)
lol troll is in my title :)

Good Doctor HST
07-16-2005, 04:38 PM
I am saying that Nuclear power when used as a weapon is not. I don't know that Hiroshima, and Nagasaki were necessary. I know the outcome stopped the war, and that's a good thing, but so many innocent people died as a result. Was the sacrifice worth it?

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki show another sad disgusting chapter in history. Japan was already on the point of surrender. Here are excerpts from messages between Togo (foreign minister) and Sato (Japan's ambassador to Moscow) .... READ BY TRUMAN AND OTHER HEADS OF GOV'T AT THE TIME

July 11: "make clear to Russia... We have no intention of annexing or taking possession of the areas which we have been occupying as a result of the war; we hope to terminate the war".

July 12: "it is His Majesty's heart's desire to see the swift termination of the war".

July 13: "I sent Ando, Director of the Bureau of Political Affairs to communicate to the [Soviet] Ambassador that His Majesty desired to dispatch Prince Konoye as special envoy, carrying with him the personal letter of His Majesty stating the Imperial wish to end the war" (for above items, see: U.S. Dept. of State, Potsdam 1, pg. 873-879).

July 18: "Negotiations... necessary... for soliciting Russia's good offices in concluding the war and also in improving the basis for negotiations with England and America." (Magic-Diplomatic Summary, 7/18/45, Records of the National Security Agency, Magic Files, RG 457, Box 18, National Archives).

July 22: "Special Envoy Konoye's mission will be in obedience to the Imperial Will. He will request assistance in bringing about an end to the war through the good offices of the Soviet Government." The July 21st communication from Togo also noted that a conference between the Emperor's emissary, Prince Konoye, and the Soviet Union, was sought, in preparation for contacting the U.S. and Great Britain (Magic-Diplomatic Summary, 7/22/45, Records of the National Security Agency, Magic Files, RG 457, Box 18, National Archives).

July 25: "it is impossible to accept unconditional surrender under any circumstances, but we should like to communicate to the other party through appropriate channels that we have no objection to a peace based on the Atlantic Charter." (U.S. Dept. of State, Potsdam 2, pg. 1260 - 1261).

July 26: Japan's Ambassador to Moscow, Sato, to the Soviet Acting Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Lozovsky: "The aim of the Japanese Government with regard to Prince Konoye's mission is to enlist the good offices of the Soviet Government in order to end the war." (Magic-Diplomatic Summary, 7/26/45, Records of the National Security Agency, Magic Files, RG 457, Box 18, National Archives).

Excerpts from: http://www.doug-long.com/hiroshim.htm