Thursday, September 6, 2007

Is a nuclear cruise-missle laden US B-52 destined for Iran?

Update: Apparently the US military is now calling the flight of the nuke-armed B-52 "a mistake" (Military Times). I'm not sure what is scarier, this kind of "mistake," or the original speculation about the bomber's mission. As this blogger comments: "When I was in the Air Force, our nuclear devices had “No Lone Zones” and strict protocols for signing and transporting nuclear weapons. This is just crazy!"

Indeed, strict protocols concern the transfer of US nuclear weapons. So it is entirely plausible that the earlier speculation about the bomber's mission was, in fact, correct:

Original Post: Did the US military recently fly a nuclear cruise missile laden B-52 bomber to the Middle East? Larry Johnson has been looking into this report, and asks:
What the hell is going on? Did someone at Barksdale try to indirectly warn the American people that the Bush Administration is staging nukes for Iran?
The story was leaked to the Military Times, so it is presumed that the source is credible. Meanwhile, today's Alama News (Iran) published a short report entitled "Iran has issued a firm warning to the US over the danger of launching a military attack against the country. " Yesterday, the Gulf Times published a story entitled "US is walking on war line with Iran":
Two weeks ago, US President George W. Bush set America inexorably on a path to the next war by declaring in his speech, "Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust."

Bush's use of the term "nuclear holocaust" could be his way of preparing Americans, and the rest of the world, for an attack on Iran. Optimists are hoping his language is more of a warning to the Islamic Republic to try to push it to surrender its nuclear project than actual strategy. . . .

The question that is looming in the media is this: Is Bush set on a confrontation course with Iran that will culminate in a bombing campaign to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities? The answer is yes, according to Britain's Sunday Times which, in an article published on September 2, said: "The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive air strikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians' military capability in three days, according to a national security expert." Now, that is a very big clue that war is looming.

British newspapers have been publishing stories speculating that an attack on Iran is "presently" afoot for well over a year. But the B-52 flight story, if true, cannot be easily explained away. And I will say this: Bush had a really strange look on his face as he stepped off Air Force One in Sydney. He didn't look his normal self.