B-52 flew nuclear bombs across US by mistake


A B-52 bomber flew the length of the United States mistakenly loaded with as many as six nuclear armed cruise missiles, US military officials confirmed today.


The mix-up last week was only discovered after the aircraft landed at Barksdale air force base in Louisiana after making the three and a half hour journey from Minot Air Base in North Dakota.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said up to six cruise missiles loaded on to the plane were found to have nuclear warheads on them by mistake.

The incident was first reported by the Military Times newspaper, which said the air launched cruise missiles can carry nuclear warheads of five to 150 kilotons, or 15 times the strength of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The aircraft was loaded with cruise missiles as part of a mission to decommission 400 of the weapons. The warheads should have never have been loaded, officers admitted.

The discovery was reported to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, and to President George W Bush.

Experts said there was no risk of a nuclear detonation, even if the aircraft had crashed.

Steve Fetter, a former Pentagon official who worked on nuclear policy in the 1990s, said that although a major conventional explosion and a plutonium leak could have occurred, the warheads' safeguards would have prevented a nuclear detonation.

"The main risk would have been the way the air force responded to any problems with the flight because they would have handled it much differently if they known nuclear warheads were onboard," he said.

Lt Col Ed Thomas, a spokesman for the air force, said the crews involved with loading the devices had been "temporarily decertified" from duties involving munitions.

'The air force takes its mission to safeguard weapons seriously," he said.


www.Telegraph.co.uk, 06-09-2007

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U.S. Staging Nukes for Iran?

By Larry Johnson


Why the hubbub over a B-52 taking off from a B-52 base in Minot, North Dakota and subsequently landing at a B-52 base in Barksdale, Louisiana? That’s like getting excited if you see postal worker in uniform walking out of a post office. And how does someone watching a B-52 land identify the cruise missiles as nukes? It just does not make sense.


So I called a old friend and retired B-52 pilot and asked him. What he told me offers one compelling case of circumstantial evidence. My buddy, let’s call him Jack D. Ripper, reminded me that the only times you put weapons on a plane is when they are on alert or if you are tasked to move the weapons to a specific site.

Then he told me something I had not heard before.

Barksdale Air Force Base is being used as a jumping off point for Middle East operations. Gee, why would we want cruise missile nukes at Barksdale Air Force Base. Can’t imagine we would need to use them in Iraq. Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?

His final point was to observe that someone on the inside obviously leaked the info that the planes were carrying nukes. A B-52 landing at Barksdale is a non-event. A B-52 landing with nukes. That is something else.

Now maybe there is an innocent explanation for this? I can’t think of one. What is certain is that the pilots of this plane did not just make a last minute decision to strap on some nukes and take them for a joy ride. We need some tough questions and clear answers. 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? I don’t know, but it is a question worth asking.


Copyright - Booman Tribune, 06-09-2007

__________________
"Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you
down to their level and beat you with experience." (c)TB