ISN, the Swiss news agency, reports that
“the US has agreed to supply Israel with 5,000 ‘smart bombs’ in a US$319 million weapons deal announced on Wednesday,” immediately prompting speculation “that the bombs may be used to hit Iranian nuclear facilities.”
The bombs include 500 one-ton “bunker-busters” [PHOTO], along with 2,500 other one-ton bombs, 1,000 half-ton bombs, and 500 quarter-ton bombs.
A nuclear bunker buster, reports the Washington Post this morning, could cause “from thousands to more than a million deaths in an urban area, and hundreds to hundreds of thousands in lightly populated areas with unfavorable winds …” More below:
Jerome A Paris broke this story here yesterday: “30 days to block sale of ‘bunker-buster’ bombs to Israel.”
Today’s Washington Post reports:
By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 28, 2005; Page A07
Earth-penetrating nuclear bombs would be capable of destroying military targets deep underground, but not without inflicting “massive casualties at ground level,” according to a congressionally mandated study released yesterday.
The study’s findings reflect a growing scientific consensus that even relatively small nuclear “bunker-buster” weapons — under study by the Bush administration but strongly opposed by some members of Congress and arms-control advocates — could not be used without a high cost in human life. Such a bomb could cause more than a million deaths, depending on the yield, the report said.
“You can use a much smaller weapon if you use an earth penetrator, maybe 20 times smaller, but you will kill a lot of people, because it puts out a huge amount of radioactive debris,” said John F. Ahearne, chairman of the Committee on the Effects of Nuclear Earth-Penetrator and Other Weapons of the National Research Council, which produced the report. The council, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, advises the federal government on science and technology.
The study represents an authoritative finding amid a long-standing conflict over whether it is possible to design an earth-penetrating nuclear bomb that would destroy deeply buried targets without killing people aboveground.
The report found that casualties from an earth-penetrator weapon “would be equal to that from a surface burst of the same weapon yield,” causing from thousands to more than a million deaths in an urban area, and hundreds to hundreds of thousands in lightly populated areas with unfavorable winds.
The sale to Israel is being carried in newspapers around the world.
I strongly urge that we all write and call our Representatives and Senators.
I’m dumbfounded.
Rumsfeld replied that 70 countries are pursuing “activities underground” using technology that allows them to burrow into solid rock the length of a basketball court in a single day.
“At the present time, we don’t have a capability of dealing with that. We can’t go in there and get at things in solid rock underground,” he said. “The only thing we have is very large, very dirty, big nuclear weapons. So . . . do we want to have nothing and only a large, dirty nuclear weapon, or would we rather have something in between?” WaPo
For a complete description and history of the Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) BLU-113 Penetrator (“bunker buster”), visit GlobalSecurity.org. The GBU-28 is the top item in Global Security’s “Hot Topics” list on its home page. That ought to tell us something.
For a fascinating, first-person account of life in Iran — by Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans who just visited Iran — see Letter From Iran, just below, in the center column. It’s a must-read, and it’s a story that needs to get out to every American if we’re to stop this madness.
We’d better get on this. I’m glad Feinstein is on it:
“It is beyond me as to why you’re proceeding with this program when the laws of physics won’t allow a missile to be driven deeply enough to retain the fallout, which will spew in hundreds of millions of cubic feet if it’s at 100 kilotons,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein — from the diary/WaPo quote
This was a front page story yesterday!
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/4/27/13444/2139
Oops … I knew you’d posted on Kos … blame it on my elderly addled mind. But, I do have the latest news stories, incl. the nuclear issue in this morning’s WaPo, so it’s not without value.
I’m sorry, Jerome. I’ll try to do better.
At some point, it seemd to me that the story had disappeared. It was very strange. Blame my randomly available internet connection this week…
My point yesterday was that this story had not been picked up; it makes sense to push it again now that it’s in the headlines.
I actually don’t mind repeat stories, it usually means that the story is important enough to warrant it; the best way to deal with it is to put a link to the other related stories you can find!
I found it and added a link to your story just below the fold.
Let’s face it though: This deal will happen. I’ll bet on it.
Let’s see: if the aim is to destabilize the Middle East, to assure an arms race far into the future, to promote all-out war, what would be the best strategy?
Simple: supply Israel with overwhelming quantities of OFFENSIVE weapons — weapons that have NO defensive use. Time that sale to assure that there will be panic and confusion over whether these are nuclear or not, and whether they are precursors to a subsequent sale of the nuclear version. By doing so, guarantee that every Islamic nation becomes desperate to obtain a nuclear deterrent of its own. Make it clear that Israel is now our official proxy in the next military attack against an Islamic state. Escalate hatred of the US and Israel throughout the Middle East and the world, thus motivating ongoing terrorist attacks against the US and its allies.
It doesn’t matter if these are the conscious aims of the Bush administration. They are the functional result of its decision. It doesn’t matter if the Bush administration is explicitly seeking to ignite a world war. That is the most likely functional consequence of its decision. It doesn’t matter if the Bush administration overtly shares Al Qaida’s vision of the world’s future. Its actions functionally advance the realization of that vision. It doesn’t matter if the Bush administration perceives itself as an enemy of America. Its behavior functionally allies it with those whose wetdreams climax with armageddon and the final destruction of historic America.
So now part of the money that we give Israel in foreign aid (paid for by american tax payers) is now going full circle and coming back to the defense contractors? Aren’t they already making enough money from the Afgan & Iraq war?