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October 20, 2007 at 14:36:31
The B-52 Incident – An Unfolding Saga of Villains, Scapegoats and Heroes by Michael Salla, Ph.D Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
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On October 19, the findings of an official Air Force investigation of the unprecedented flight of a nuclear armed B-52 bomber across the U.S. on August 30 was announced at a Pentagon press conference. The Secretary of the Air Force, Michael Wynne, opened the press conference by remarking that the Air Force would depart from its normal policy of silence on the movements of nuclear weapons; and, given the seriousness of the B-52 incident, would make public the movements of the Advanced Cruise missiles involved. He said: "We would not be this upset with ourselves, nor be striving to restore confidence, if this did not involve nuclear weapons." The seriousness of the incident was so great that it was given “Bent Spear” status which meant it was a nuclear mishap that had to be reported directly to the Secretary of Defense and the White House. Secretary Wynne was followed by Maj. Gen. Richard Newton who claimed that the incident stemmed from “a series of procedural breakdowns and human errors.” One of the more serious of which was storing six advanced cruise missiles with nuclear warheads, in the same hangar as conventional missiles with dummy warheads. This was a failure to maintain standard procedures to prevent the commingling of conventional and nuclear weapons to ensure against them ever being mixed up. In a stinging rebuke to personnel at both Minot and Barksdale Air Force Bases, Newton referred to a “lack of attention to detail, a lack of effective leadership and supervision.” He further referred to “an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and at Barksdale Air Force Base.” Newton said that four colonels had been relieved of their duties. A further 65 Air Force personnel had been decertified from handling nuclear weapons. Further disciplinary action, and even criminal charges, might be taken against the officials and airmen identified in the report. The Air Force investigation is very clear in its findings that the B-52 incident stemmed from multiple cases of human error by highly trained personnel who failed to follow elaborate operating procedures for nuclear weapons. Furthermore, according to General Newton, “the six week investigation found that this was an isolated event.” Consequently, the investigation paints a clear picture of the Air Force coming to terms with the seriousness of the failures of its personnel. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the investigation effectively vilifies the personnel responsible for multiple failures in an effort to end the unfolding B-52 Bent Spear saga. The official report stands in stark contrast to the findings of an independent investigation by Wayne Madsen who interviewed a number of confidential U.S. and foreign intelligence sources concerning the B-52 incident. His sources declared that the B-52 was part of a covert mission headed for the Middle East which is why they were routed through Barksdale AFB, a staging base for the Middle East operations. Madsen revealed that “a U.S. attack on Iran using nuclear and conventional weapons was scheduled to coincide with Israel’s September 6 in attack on a reputed Syrian nuclear facility … in northern Syria area near Turkish border.” 
Madsen’s investigation claimed that Air Force personnel refused to follow classified orders for the Middle East deployment of the B-52 with its nuclear armed missiles. In effect, Air Force officers and personnel involved stood down in response to what were regarded as illegal orders concerning their use in the Middle East. This suggests that the B-52’s did not arrive at Barksdale with nuclear weapons due to human error as the official investigation claims, but had been ordered there as part of a covert mission. Madsen’s report gives credence to claims that orders emanated from very senior sources within the Bush administration.
In an earlier article, I wrote that the most likely source for such orders came from the Office of the Vice President who is well known for his hawkish views on the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against Iran. Madsen’s investigation led him to conclude the “U.S. military is now waging an internal war against neo-cons who are embedded in the U.S. government and military chain of command who are intent on using nuclear weapons in a pre-emptive war with Iran” . Consequently, while some within the Air Force are cooperating with neoconservatives desiring to initiate military intervention against Iran, which accounted for the nuclear weapons being loaded at Minot and flown to Barksdale, many military officials remain staunchly opposed to such intervention. This accounted for the original Air Force leak by three officers to the Military Times newspaper which reported on the incident on September 5.
If Madsen’s investigation is more accurate, then the Air Force personnel involved in the B-52 incident can be divided into two categories. The first category are those that followed classified orders issued by senior authorities within the Bush administration enabling the B-52 incident. These Air Force personnel have therefore been scapegoated for following orders that were likely highly classified due to the covert nature of the mission the B-52 was intended to perform. The second category are personnel that refused to follow orders that would have led to nuclear weapons being deployed into the Middle East without the knowledge of the normal chain of military command. It was these Air Force personnel who were responsible for the original leak to the Military Times on September 5 that alerted the public to the incident. It would not be inaccurate to describe these officials as true American patriots and heroes in protecting the sanctity of U.S. Constitutional principles.
What emerges from the official Air Force investigation is that internal efforts to identify and make accountable those ultimately responsible for the B-52 Bent Spear incident have failed. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral William Fallon, Commander of Central Command, have indicated their opposition to a preemptive nuclear attack on Iran. It is highly likely that they were genuinely surprised by the B-52 incident, and lost an internal power struggle to reveal what was really occurring. They were likely opposed by the remaining neo-conservatives that are led by Vice President Cheney. By attributing the B-52 incident to multiple human errors, both sides in the internal military and government struggle over the merits of a preemptive attack against Iran, have given themselves time to step back from the brink and consider their next move. It is unlikely that the neoconservative faction will give up on its efforts to move forward with a preemptive attack against Iran. At the same time, a determined group of military officials are opposed to such an attack, and are exposing covert plans for this to occur without the support of most of the American military and general public.
Furthermore, it is worth considering that the initial Military Times report on September 5 reported five nuclear missiles being found at Barksdale AFB. This was updated to six in a revised article by the same reporter on September 10. According to Madsen, his intelligence sources said only five advanced nuclear cruise missiles were found at Barksdale, after six left Minot AFB. So if one nuclear missile is still missing, then attention needs to be placed on those factions within the U.S. military and government that would benefit from the covert use of a nuclear weapon in the Middle East. Attention needs to be placed on those ultimately behind the B-52 incident, most likely based within the Office of the Vice President. It is therefore very possible that the B-52 incident involved two covert missions.
The official investigation of the B-52 Bent Spear incident was unsatisfactory since there are simply too many unanswered questions concerning how six nuclear weapons could be loaded onto the pylons of a B-52 without being noticed by highly trained personnel. Even though reporters such as Walter Pincus go to great lengths to describe how such mistakes could have occurred , others remain highly dubious. According to Dave Lindorff, a Naval officer claims that “it would be simply impossible for those weapons to have been moved out of the storage bunker. He claims to know for a certainty that all nuclear weapons in the US arsenal are equipped with high-tech tags (“like they have at WalMart and Kmart only better”) that would instantly trigger alarms when the weapons are moved, unless they were deliberately disarmed.” .
Finally, the official investigation was disappointing since it vilified Air Force personnel, rather than leveling with the American public over the covert mission the B-52 was engaged in. Air Force personnel were either unfairly scapegoated for following classified orders directly from senior officials in the Bush administration; or were true American patriots refusing to follow illegal orders sanctioning a preemptive nuclear attack against Iran. The B-52 incident is an unfolding saga involving villains, scapegoats and heroes. It is up to the general public and media to expose the real villains, and to identify the genuine heroes in exposing the dangers involved in the nuclear armed B-52 flown across the U.S. to Barksdale AFB on one or more covert missions.
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| 11 comments |
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FLASE FLAG OP.
I WAS WONDERING THAT THE POWER OF ONE OF THESE BOMBS IS TEN TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN THE HEROSHMA BOMB, SEEMS TO LARGE TO BE USED AS A FLASE FLAG OP. IN THE U.S. IT WOULD DESTORY A STATE NOT JUST A CITY, SO MY HOPE IS IF THERE IS ONE MISSING AND WHOEVER HAS IT HAS SECOND THOUGHS, IT WINDS UP BACK WERE IT BELONGS. THIS SCARES THE HELL OUT ME RAS by RICHARD SHADE (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 460 comments) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 5:05:40 AM  (0+)
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Great article Michael,
by John R Moffett (89 articles, 18 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 697 comments [14 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 10:27:58 AM (0+)
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Reply: Following Orders
It's pretty clear that the officers at Minot and Barksdale were given classified orders by a higher authority circumventing the regular chain of military command. The orders very likely came through Cheney's office and would have been part of a highly classified project knowledge of which could only be disclosed on a 'need to know' basis. This meant that the Base commander at Minot and officers were likely instructed not to report to more senior officers who would have ended the covert project given the Joint Chiefs earlier opposition to a nuclear attack on Iran. The project unravelled at Barksdale when officers there objected and three leaked what was happening to the Military Times. Gates and Fallon were definitely briefed and approved the Military Times running the story in the hope of generating political support for the internal struggle that lay ahead. There must have been a hell of an internal struggle where efforts were made to remove Cheney by Gates, Fallon and others.The obvious conclusion is that Cheney must have won and the four officers and 65 personnel were sacrificed in order to oover up what was really happening behind the scenes. So the end result is that Cheney continues to exercize the executive powers Bush has given to him to coordinate official efforts in the "war on terror", while the military is opposed to his Middle East agenda. It's going to be a wild ride for the next 15 months as the B-52 scenario is likely to play out again given the neocons determination to push through with an attack on Iran, and the military's opposition to a new Middle East debacle. Aloha by Dr Michael Salla (22 articles, 19 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 30 comments) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 12:07:12 PM (0+)
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Re: The B-52 Incident
by Munich (1 articles, 86 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 1125 comments [86 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 11:28:01 AM (0+)
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Reply: Too Pessimistic an Assessment
Iran has not been attacked yet precisely because people are speaking up and debunking the Neocon lies and condemning their lust for war. Our voices are on the periphery, but they are not without effect. What we have to do is keep hammering away, day in day out. You have to remember too that the Bush Regime has set into motion the Laws of Karma. Even though justice is pretty much compromised on this planet, universal justice is not. There will be consequences for their actions, and, if the American people can't address the imbalances, the universe will. by Mac McKinney (53 articles, 113 quicklinks, 240 diaries, 1413 comments [31 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 11:37:44 AM (0+)
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Right on Mac
There are voices of reason out there and even though we are up against Cheney and the other neocons these voices are not going to be silenced. There are military officers and enlisted who will continue to let the nation know what is happening against us. These weapons could not simply be loaded "accidently" and sent without orders. Anyone who believes this is a fool. by shanti (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 43 comments) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 11:51:16 AM (0+)
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loose nukes
Isn't it obvious? The incompetents in the Air Force are not capable of insuring the security of our nuclear arsenal. Get me Blackwater on the phone right now! by Kyle Johnson (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 12:42:35 PM (0+)
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The B-52 Incident - what to do
One thing we can do is contact members of the House & Senate Armed Services Committees and demand an independent investigation. by Jim Arnold (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 147 comments [18 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 12:48:53 PM (0+)
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Steve Fossett is still hiding
If you recall, he left the Hilton ranch and got lost to allow the Air force to conduct a search for the 1 missing nuclear armed cruise missile that was launched upon us. After the Air force recovered the nuclear missile, the search for Steve was ended. Some reports place good old Steve up in Canada having fun with Paris Hilton. Come out come out wherever you are Steve! To understand this event, we can take the words of Karl Liebknecht, and his words and thoughts help explain this event, and everything from nuclear weapons to Extraterrestrials. First, Karl said that the true function of war is aimed at ones own domestic population rather than some supposed foreign enemy. "The true function of war is to Subordinate the mass of the domestic population to exploitation at the hands of the Dominant class." Most have already noticed that along with murdering a large number of Arabs, Bush and Cheney have been handing over our money in huge wads to their criminal accomplices. If what Karl Liebknecht says is correct; why then were nuclear weapons built in an amount that if ever used, will lead to the mass destruction of humanity? Answer: The plan from the beginning of the nuclear age was to immolate the mass of the human population in an all out war of genocidal extermination. Now if we-"The Living Dead-are still here all these years after the decision was made to exterminate us, what are these high level powers doing in our world? Using the internet you can find a large amount of data about the "ET" intervention. You will find that "ET" has repeatedly shut down many nuclear ballistic missile launchers over the decades. Many nuclear armed B-52 bombers have fallen out of the air for a variety of reasons. Many appear to be due to "ET" not wanting our nuclear war fighting elite to be dropping thermo-nuclear bombs on humanity. "ET" clearly has the 'Keys' to the nuclear war fighitng machine, and if 'ET' will not give the 'Keys' to our nuclear war fighitng elite, then we may all survive yet. Our survival was not and is not the plan. The plan is to 'Sucker Punch' us with nuclear weapons. We are the Livng Dead. This is why our nuclear war fighting elite don't want to talk about "ET." The write up by Mr Salla is very good. This story may be the one that will finally awaken the 'Living Dead" to the reality of our world. And to Steve; "Come out come out wherever you are." by Patrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 519 comments [22 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 6:23:00 PM (0+)
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They have lost them before
Just off the shore of Georgia there is a nuke somewhere on the bottom of the ocean waiting to be found. The Air Force lost one there too. by Gallaher (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 990 comments [34 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 6:40:39 PM (0+)
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Talk about Oops Apocalypse!
strewth! If the missing nuke isn't bad enough but it appears that Dr strangelove is alive and well so it would seem. If this article is true then there's not a lot of difference between Pakistan and America in that regard (military officers who think they know what's best even if it kills everyone). One wonders at the level of control there is over the military by the people they are sworn to protect. Are the forces sworn to protect the people or the USA? The latter leaves room for abhorant militaristic views. The scarey thing is that the President (one man) is the ultimate Comander in Chief. Someone who knows little of the armed forces and influenced by those with extreme philosophies. It is easier for the public ellect two individuals with extreme ideolologies than two houses of congress. I would suggest that the Military,CIA et sec should be controlled by the congress not the President. by Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 531 comments) on Monday, Oct 22, 2007 at 3:21:56 AM (0+)
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