[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] As a Proud Member of the Foil Hat Brigade...

I feel it is in everyone's best interest to put this little story out into the world:

A retired lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve who served with the Navy's Supervisor of Salvage questioned in a little-noticed editorial Sunday why six active nuclear armed cruise missiles were being transferred to an active bomber base that "just happens to be the staging area for Middle Eastern operations."

"The United States also does not transport nuclear weapons meant for elimination attached to their launch vehicles under the wings of a combat aircraft," Navy veteran Robert Stormer wrote in the Texas-based Star-Telegram. "The procedure is to separate the warhead from the missile, encase the warhead and transport it by military cargo aircraft to a repository -- not an operational bomber base that just happens to be the staging area for Middle Eastern operations."

Six nuclear W80 nuclear-armed cruise missiles were flown to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana where they sat for ten hours undetected. (link to full story)

I happen to think someone somewhere is up to something pretty shady. After all, the protocol for handling and transporting nuclear weapons is pretty detailed for a reason: so mistakes such as this won't happen. And, as I read this article, I could help but consider that we are supposedly trying very hard to keep such weapons out of the hands of those who wish to attack our nation and her interests, yet it's clear that we can't keep track of our own weapons.

There's also the considerable PR ploy to take into account. The military can not directly come out and say that we are moving nuclear weapons into our base of Middle East operations, but the appearance that it is being done under these somewhat suspicious circumstances is more than enough to ignite a person's paranoia. However, the thing to keep in mind is that there is the strong likelihood that U.S. nuclear weapons are already in the Middle East, and I'm willing to bet they've been there for quite some time. After all, our boats carry a great many of those things.

The thing that bothers me most is that, if this isn't a genuine mistake, then someone felt that this sort of stupid stunt was necessary to achieve a greater end. However, the real end result is that, rather than send the message to spook our enemies, our military --including our Commander in Chief-- simply comes across looking as though they are nothing but a collection of incompetent fools akin to a bungling Barney Fife.

Oh well... Time to take the shiny helmet off my noggin and get back to my mad little life.

-DP

--
Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 10/09/2007 03:00:00 PM