The media treated the story of the accidental transfer of nuclear warheads as an unfortunate mishap that thankfully did not translate into a global catastrophe. Of course I am glad that the plane did not crash or a cruise missile was inadvertently launched, obliterating anything in between Minot, ND and Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. Yet, this explanation of events felt weird to me, and it did so to Larry Johnson, who is far more qualified than me to talk about these things.
From TPM Cafe:
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 a 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.
Hmmm. Are we trying to threaten someone with those WMDs?
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