Comments for Simple Error My Ass - Loose Nukes at http://atlanticfreepress.com , comment 1 to 4 out of 4 comments http://atlanticfreepress.com Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:18:24 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2480-simple-error-my-ass-loose-nukes.html#comment-3100 I find fault in Larry C. Johnson’s take on the storage, breakout, transport, loading, and securing of nuclear weapons, which brings into question the entire content of the article. When he said "You do not walk into an ammo/weapons bunker and sort thru a bunch a cruise missiles...” he’s actually dead on in that description. When a transport crew shows up to haul the weapons away they hope desperately that the storage crew left the missiles they need at the front of the building, otherwise they have to shuffle huge weapons packages around. He then said “And now we learn that nukes and conventional weapons are stored together willy-nilly?” that’s not a true statement and he didn’t even show any evidence where that could be inferred. A cruise missile without a nuclear warhead is not a conventional weapon – it’s a cruise missile without a nuclear warhead. And yes they’re stored in the same shelters as other cruise missiles for physical reasons - they’re big and heavy and not a lot of buildings on earth can house them. To help out, a Munitions Custodian officer “owns” the munitions. At worst he/she is a glorified paper pusher. The Munitions Custodian officer does not go out and check the status of each weapon when ever its status changes, that’s delegated to responsible officers and NCOs although the custodian is held responsible for those individuals who let him down. Also, the pilot who gave Larry such wonderful information was glaringly wrong with the statement “The United States has had nuclear weapons for over sixty years. Through out this time the tracking, storage and movement of these weapons has been performed without any type of security problem.” Hardly. People aren’t perfect and multiple incidents have happened in the history of the Air Force and Navy. As a pilot this person should know that we’ve left nukes scattered over Greenland and Spain, proving a huge storage and security nightmare. In the end the whole incident is situation in full FUBAR status. I’ve been in the munitions field for over 20 years and there’s one glaring item that proves this is nothing but a screw up: When the situation came to light the first thing they did was decertify the load crew. If this was some fantastical ‘saber rattling’ that never would have happened, certified load crews are too valuable to the operation of a bomber squadron. And if this was leaked for any nefarious purpose it was the same old one – to make the current administration look bad. - a guest Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:39:45 +0100 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2480-simple-error-my-ass-loose-nukes.html#comment-3096 Robert explains in his book how fragile the situation is as a country aquires it's first nuke. Just one or two provokes pre-emptive strikes. Now half a dozen put's you in the M.A.D. club. Nobody will touch you. So when we hear denials from whoever, that Iran has NOT received six nukes to even up the brinkmanship, then we might ponder Otto Von Bismark's famous quip:- "Never believe anything in politics untill it has been officially denied" - a guest Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:57:23 +0100 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2480-simple-error-my-ass-loose-nukes.html#comment-3087 There is no way in hell that this was an accident. I work at a civilian nuclear plantand have experience with the accounting of nuclear material, so I can only imagine the absolutely unconditional rigor that would be applied to controlling the inventory and movement of nuclear arms. There are only three plausible explanations for this event in my mind: 1-This is psychological warfare. The “leak” was intentional and intended to scare the sh*t out of Iran and everybody else, to make it look like the US is gearing up for a nuclear strike on Iran (in step with the propaganda campaign that has recently been stepped up by our friends at Fox, CNN and the rest). This assumes that the powers responsible do not really want to attack Iran (though they still may “have to”), but need to promote the perception that they will in order to gain leverage on the diplomatic side. 2-This is psychological warfare. The “leak” was intentional and intended to soften up the public, planting the idea that nuclear weapons inside the US are not as secure as they should be. In this way, if (God forbid) a “terrorist” detonates one of these devices inside the US (as the next 9/11), there will be already be an event on record that they can point to as evidence that it would be possible for a “terrorist” to obtain a US nuke. I know this sounds insane but there are dozens of very high-ranking people in the US who have made reference to this exact scenario (except they do not tell us that the “terrorists” would be intelligence assets/agents). 3-The leak was from somebody with a conscience inside the military who believes that the US is gearing up for a nuclear attack on Iran. This person decided that they would rather blow the whistle (and risk the consequences) than sit back and be a good little German and do what they were told. My guess is #1, but all 3 are entirely plausible (unlike the explanation offered by the Washington Post) and not mutually exclusive. At this point it is completely irrational and unwise to believe any explanation given by the corporate presstitutes (“journalists” for hire). “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell - a guest Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:20:54 +0100 http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/2480-simple-error-my-ass-loose-nukes.html#comment-3085 All those who run and visit websites—and this means all of us—need to be concerned about this development for it threatens our very existence. Usmanov has the bread to pay high-powered lawyers to threaten our right to access the means of communication and who can afford to take on multi-millionaires? I think it’s about time we had some kind of organisation that we could give some collective clout to that could start to campaign for some legal protection against louts like Usmanov let alone the state. (And this is guy who wants to buy the ‘Gunners’, the Arsenal Football Club based in North London!) Addendum: There is this Committee to Protect Bloggers but I don’t know much about them or whether they can protect us. They have a forum where I posted this short note. http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/ Bill - a guest Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:51:36 +0100