The nuclear yield of the B-61 can be adjusted to suit a particular mission. The bomb that destroyed Hiroshima had an explosive force equivalent to about fifteen kilotons of TNT. In comparison, the “dial-a-yield” of the B-61 bombs at Incirlik can be adjusted from 0.3 kilotons to as many as a hundred and seventy kilotons.
THE U.S. CLAIMS THE BASE IN TURKEY IS ITS LARGEST STORAGE FACILITY FOR THE 'H-BOMB' IN ALL OF EUROPE.
THIS SITE LIES A MERE 70 MILES FROM THE SYRIAN BORDER.
ADD TO THAT THE TURMOIL WITHIN TURKEY SINCE ERDOGAN TOOK POWER.
...
"Bigger than LIFE"? THAT MAKES IT A BIG TARGET, RIGHT?
WHILE THE THREATS MADE LAST WEEK BY TURKEY'S MAD-MAN, ERDOGAN, TO STRIKE U.S. TROOPS WHO ARE AIDING KURDISH FIGHTERS ALONG THE NORTHERN SYRIAN BORDER WAS REPORTED BY A VERY FEW MAINSTREAM AMERICAN MEDIA, THE REPORT BY AL JAZEERA IS, BY FAR, MORE IN-DEPTH:
30 APRIL 2017
'Turkish forces last week carried out deadly air strikes on military positions belonging to the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), angering the US and sparking days of border clashes with the Kurdish fighters.
Turkey views the YPG as a "terrorist" organisation and an extension of the Kurdish PKK group that has waged a three-decade insurgency against Turkey for greater independence.
But Washington views YPG as its most effective ground partner in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria.
Pictures posted by pro-Kurdish activists on Twitter show military convoys flying U.S. and YPG flags passing through the mostly Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishli.
The difference of opinion over YPG has cast a shadow over US-Turkish relations for some time
"We will bring this up when we meet Mr President on May 16," said Erdogan.
"This needs to be stopped right now. Otherwise it will continue to be a bother in the region and for us."
Erdogan reaffirmed that Turkey could again bomb YPG positions any time it wanted.
"I said yesterday: 'We can come unexpectedly in the night'. I really meant that. We are not going to tip off the terror groups and the Turkish Armed Forces could come at any moment. Better they live in fear than we have worries," he said.
Redur Khalil, YPG's spokesman in Syria, said Turkey is reinforcing its border posts opposite Tal Abyad as well as other areas.
"We hope that this military mobilisation is not meant to provoke our forces or for another purpose linked to entering Syrian territories. We don't want any military confrontation between us, since our priority is to fight Daesh [ISIL] in Raqqa and Tabqa," Khalil told The Associated Press in text messages.
THE U.K.'S TELEGRAPH REPORTED HOW CLOSE AMERICA TROOPS WERE FROM THE STRIKE THAT KILLED AT LEAST 25 KURDISH FIGHTERS, ALLIES OF THE U.S.:
U.S. troops on the ground were only a few miles from where the Turkish jets struck, and Washington was reportedly only given a 52-minute warning.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in its latest report on the Syria crisis that the U.S. had "a singular dilemma" on the future of its relationship with the YPG.
It said the YPG "is indispensable" to defeat Isil but there is also "no avoiding the fact" that the US is backing a force "led by PKK-trained cadres in Syria while the PKK itself continues an insurgency against a Nato ally."
It said that Turkey had pressed ahead with the air strikes despite U.S. objections and this "should serve as a warning for what could lie in store."
THE MAIN QUESTION IN MY MIND IS 'WHERE ARE OUR NUKES THAT WERE STORED AT INCIRLIK AIR BASE IN TURKEY AND WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THEM?
WAY BACK IN 2005, THE GUARDIAN CONFIRMED THERE WERE 110 AMERICAN NUCLEAR WARHEADS THERE IN BRITAIN.
MOST REPORTS SAY THAT WE HAVE 50 IN TURKEY, BUT FOREIGN SOURCES HAVE SAID THAT THERE ARE 90.
ONE IS TOO MANY!
DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS OBTAINED BY A EUROPEAN 'THINK TANK' STATED THAT TURKISH WAR PLANES WERE CAPABLE OF DROPPING AMERICAN NUCLEAR BOMBS.
WHY HAS AMERICA ENTRUSTED THAT NUCLEAR STRIKE CAPABILITY TO A MADMAN LIKE ERDOGAN?
MUCH TO THEIR SURPRISE, THE GUARDIAN LEARNED THAT AMERICA HAS ALMOST 500 SUCH WEAPONS DEPLOYED ALL ACROSS EUROPE, NOT JUST 200, AND GAVE THE FOLLOWING LIST:
'The US has more than 100 nuclear weapons at its Lakenheath base in Suffolk, three times the number previously thought, a respected U.S. research agency said yesterday.
The 110 tactical nuclear bombs kept at the East Anglian base - the home of American F-15 strike jets - are among as many as 480 such weapons the US still deploys in Europe, says the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), a private arms control and environmental group.
The assumption for years was that the US kept about 200 nuclear weapons in Europe, Hans Kristensen, the report's author, said.
Around 150 bombs are kept at three bases in Germany, 90 at Incirlik, south-eastern Turkey, 90 in Italy and 20 each in Belgium and the Netherlands, the NRDC says, adding that there is no justification for such stockpiles since the Soviet threat no longer exists.
The weapons are all free-fall, or "gravity" bombs.
"The fact that the United States has some 480 nuclear weapons still stationed in Europe will come as a surprise to a lot of Europeans," said Mr. Kristensen.
He added: "The big question is: 'Why are they still there more than a decade after the cold war ended?' Neither the United States nor Nato has been able to articulate a credible mission for the weapons."
Yesterday's 100-page report is based on documents obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, military publications, commercial satellite imagery and other material.
The NRDC also discloses how many nuclear bombs the US would provide non-nuclear Nato allies with in the event of war.
It found that as many as 180 would be dropped by Belgian, German, Italian, Dutch, and Turkish aircraft.
THE MILITARY TIMES TRIED TO EXPLAIN (EXCUSE?) OUR PRESENCE IN TURKEY,
"Maj. Peter Gersten, then deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force 'Operation Inherent Resolve', told Air Force Times:
“We can get out of Incirlik to the combat area (IN SYRIA) in roughly 20 minutes; where, typically, we are averaging somewhere around 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours to get to the combat area.If you can get from launch to target area in 20 minutes, you don’t require a tanker.”
The Air Force flies KC-135 tankers, MQ-1 Predators and A-10 Thunderbolt II fighters from Incirlik. The Marine Corps also has EA-6B Prowlers there.
NOT ENOUGH INFO!
WE NEED TO KNOW THREE THINGS FOR CERTAIN:
1~ DID ERDOGAN TAKE POSSESSION OF ANY OF THOSE DURING THAT LOCK-DOWN OF INCIRLIK WHEN HE FAKED THAT COUP ATTEMPT AND HELD OUR AIR BASE AND ALL IN IT HOSTAGE FOR DAYS?
2~ WHERE THE HELL ARE THE TURKISH AIR BASE NUKES RIGHT NOW?
3~ WHY WOULD THE U.S. TOLERATE SUCH THREATS AGAINST OVER 500 U.S.TROOPS?
THE MANIAC IN TURKEY NEEDS "RE-SCHOOLING" ON WHAT THE WORD "ALLY" MEANS.
"Some 1,500 US airmen and their families were locked in the southern Turkish air base of Incirlik together with a stock of tactical nuclear bombs beginning July 16.
[MY NOTE:Power was restored July 22, but tensions still ran high and it's little better there today. Who knows when Erdogan will repeat his July, 2016 siege?]
The base was under virtual siege by large police contingents, cut off from electric power for several days except for local generators that were quickly running out of fuel. This sort of pressure appears to have been Erdogan’s method of turning hundreds of Americans on the base into hostages to force Washington into extraditing Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of orchestrating the failed coup... from his place of asylum in Pennsylvania.
It was a LUNATIC playing bully, rubbing a super-power's face in the dirt.
OBVIOUSLY, OUR CONGRESS IS TOO BUSY OFFING 'OBAMACARE' AND SCREWING-OVER AMERICA'S POOR, ELDERLY, KIDS AND DISABLED TO GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE LIVES OF U.S. SERVICEMEN IN SYRIA. THEY'RE ALL TOO BUSY KISSING THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND BIG PHARM BUTTS RIGHT NOW. HOW THEY LOVE THE TASTE OF WALL STREET BUTT, OUR CONGRESSIONAL WHORES.
"Are the bombs secure?"
The Congressional Research Service compiled a report for the benefit of congress, but they were not formally briefed.
The new report from the Congressional Research Service shows that a report was compiled on the matter for Congress.
The report finds the security situation of the bombs 'adequate', as they are stored in facilities last updated in 2015, are heavily guarded by US troops, and are stored securely underground.
To steal or access these bombs, the report suggests, one would need to overwhelm US and NATO forces on one of their own bases, and then come up with some way to haul a 12 foot long, very heavy warhead.
But is there still good reason to question their presence in Turkey?
Shouldn't the US move the nukes?
In its conclusion, the report weighs the alternatives to stationing nuclear weapons at Incirlik. Moving the warheads could possibly encourage Russia to cooperate more and possibly reduce their nuclear stockpile, though nothing guarantees that.
A move could be seen as prudent in light of the evolving and uncertain relationship of the US to Turkey, and the weapon's current proximity to ISIS territory and the Syrian quagmire, but it would represent a loss of confidence in the Turkish system, and another host country would have to approve the presence of the nukes.'
WELL, AS WE'VE SEEN, AT LEAST FIVE OTHER NATIONS HAVE ALREADY APPROVED THE PRESENCE OF AMERICAN NUKES, HAVEN'T THEY?
SEND THEM THERE...ANYWHERE BUT TURKEY OR SYRIA!
IN AUGUST, 2016,
"On Monday, a US-based think tank, The Stimson Center, responded to this proposal when it released a report titled "B-61 Life Extension Program: Costs and Policy Considerations" which slammed the planned upgrades to the U.S. tactical nuclear bomb program as an “egregious” waste of money and said deployment overseas is risky.
“The continued presence of these weapons [NUCLEAR WARHEADS] at five sites in Europe, particularly in Turkey, raises serious risks of their seizure by terrorists or other hostile forces,” the report said.
[NOTE: 5 SITES? NO, 6 ADMITTED SITES, AS WE'LL SEE SHORTLY**.]
The bombs are designated as tactical weapons, dropped from small, short-range aircraft.
The report calls them all but obsolete given the U.S. strategic nuclear deterrence.
[SO, IF THEY ARE NOT FOR "DETERRENCE", COULD WE ASSUME THEY ARE STRICTLY FOR A NUCLEAR ATTACK, A 'FIRST-STRIKE'?]
ROLLING THE DICE
“From a security point of view, it’s a roll of the dice to continue to have approximately 50 of America’s nuclear weapons stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, just 70 miles from the Syrian border,” said report co-author Laicie Heeley. “These weapons have zero utility on the European battlefield and today are more of a liability than asset to our NATO allies,” said Heeley, a fellow with the Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program at the Stimson Center.'
EXACTLY...BUT WE DON'T SEE THAT COMMENTED ON IN THE 'NEWS' THAT ISN'T NEWS, DO WE?
** FROM THE FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS, NOVEMBER 9, 2006, WE HAD DEPLOYED NUKES TO SIX EUROPEAN NATIONS...NOT 5.
BUT HOW MANY OF THE 10,000+ WARHEADS ARE IN EUROPE TODAY?
WE JUST DON'T KNOW.
THERE WERE OVER 7,000 THERE A FEW DECADES BACK.
HOW THOSE WERE HANDLED GAVE ME CHILLS...WE WERE NOT IN CONTROL OF THOSE WEAPONS!
FROM 'THE NEW YORKER':"By the mid-nineteen-sixties, more than seven thousand American nuclear weapons were deployed in Western Europe, Greece, and Turkey.
The weapons were technically in the custody of U.S. officers, ready to be handed over for use in wartime by NATO personnel.
But custody of the weapons was not the same as control of them.
A delegation of U.S. senators visiting Europe in 1960 was shocked to find hydrogen bombs loaded onto German planes that were on alert and crewed by German pilots; thermonuclear warheads atop missiles manned by Italian crews; nuclear weapons guarded and transported by “non-Americans with non-American vehicles.”
The theft or use of these weapons by NATO allies became a grave concern.
“The prime loyalty of the guards, of course, is to their own nation, and not to the U.S.,” the Senate delegation warned in a classified report.
With a few hours and the right tools and training, you could open one of NATO’s nuclear-weapons storage vaults, remove a weapon, and bypass the PAL (Permissive Action Link) inside it. Within seconds, you could place an explosive device on top of a storage vault, destroy the weapon, and release a lethal radioactive cloud.
NATO’s hydrogen bombs are still guarded by the troops of their host countries.
In 2010, peace activists climbed over a fence at the Kleine Brogel Airbase, in Belgium, cut through a second fence, entered a hardened shelter containing nuclear-weapons vaults, placed anti-nuclear stickers on the walls, wandered the base for an hour, and posted a video of the intrusion on YouTube. The video showed that the Belgian soldier who finally confronted them was carrying an unloaded rifle."
IMAGINE TURKISH FORCES WITH AMERICAN BOMBS, OR ISIS, OR ANY NATION NEARBY WHO WANTS A NUCLEAR WEAPON.
**WHERE THE NUKES WERE, ONCE UPON A TIME
'A new review published in the November/December issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists shows that the United States stores its nearly 10,000 nuclear warheads at 18 locations in 12 states and six (6, NOT 5) European countries.
The article’s authors – Hans M. Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists and Robert S. Norris of the Natural Resources Defense Council – identified the likely locations by piecing together information from years of monitoring declassified documents, officials statements, news reports, leaks, conversations with current and former officials, and commercial high-resolution satellite photos.
About 400 warheads are at eight bases in six European countries – Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and Great Britain (for more information on U.S. warheads in Europe, go to http://www.nukestrat.com/us/afn/nato.htm).
2,000 ALWAYS ON "HIGH ALERT".
More than 2,000 of those warheads are on high alert, ready to launch on short notice.
Only about 28 percent of U.S. warheads have been moved to separate storage facilities.
[NOTE: THERE IS A MAP DEPICTING WHERE THE WARHEADS WERE STATIONED IN AMERICA 2006 AT THE ABOVE LINK.]
There were no nuclear weapons in Alaska. The last nuclear weapons (about 24 B57 depth bombs) were removed from the state (Naval Air Station Adak) in the mid-1990s after the Pentagon decided to eliminate the nuclear anti-submarine warfare mission.
For more information go here.
As for Asia, nuclear weapons were deployed in South Korea, the Philippines and Japan at various stages between 1954 and 1991. The last weapons were nuclear artillery shells and bombs withdrawn from South Korea in late 1991. Since then, nuclear weapons have also been withdrawn from Guam, Hawaii and Alaska.
THERE WERE 90 WARHEADS IN TURKEY IN 2006.As for the Middle East, only Israel is thought to possess nuclear weapons (Pakistan and India are not considered Middle East but South Asia). Yet nuclear weapons are also present in Turkey, where the United States stores roughly 90 nuclear bombs at Incirlik Air Base near the border with Syria. Go here for background.
WOULD AN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC PULSE WEAPON SET OFF OUR NUKES?
The EMP vulnerability of U.S. nuclear warheads is classified and not known, but all warheads and their delivery systems are thought to be hardened against EMP. HOWEVER...
Because the military is becoming increasingly dependent on computer systems, and since the civilian infrastructure generally is not hardened, some argue that a “rogue” state or a well-organized terrorist organization could achieve a disproportional effect if they somehow managed to acquire a warhead and detonate it high in the atmosphere. Others dismiss this as a worst-case scenario that is very unlikely and argue that it would be too expensive to harden all military forces and the civilian infrastructure anyway.
The United States is the only nuclear weapon state that deploys nuclear weapons in foreign countries.'
[NOTE: THE REPLIES BY THE AUTHOR TO COMMENTS IS FASCINATNG, FULL OF INFORMATION I DIDN'T KNOW PRIOR TO READING THE ENTIRE THING. BE SURE TO READ ALL THE WAY TO THE END OF THE COMMENTS SECTION.]
"OFFICIALLY", THE U.S. ONLY CLAIMS 50 NUCLEAR WARHEADS AT INCIRLIK AIR BASE IN TURKEY, BUT ALSO "OFFICIALLY" WE KNOW THAT AMERICA SENT ABOUT 200 MORE NUCLEAR BOMBS TO EUROPE, ACCORDING TO THE INFAMOUS BROOKINGS INSTITUTE, JULY, 2015.
IF, AS THE DECLASSIFIED PAPERS SHOWED IN 2005, AS THE GUARDIAN REPORTED, THERE WERE 480 U.S. NUKES IN EUROPE, THEN THE NEW SHIPMENT OF 200 BROUGHT THE TOTAL CLOSER TO 700?
IT WAS VERY DISCONCERTING TO ME TO READ WHAT THE CHIEF MILITARY COMMANDER AT INCIRLIK WAS ACCUSED OF:
'The Turkish squadron and (INCIRLIK) base commander, Brigadier Gen. Bekir Ercan, is under arrest, suspected of a senior role in planning and executing the coup, by assigning the aircraft and helicopters to support it, responsibility for the disappearance of a large number of aircraft and aiding the defection of air crews to Greece.
[WHAT TYPE OF AIRCRAFT WAS "DISAPPEARED? WHERE TO, GREECE? AND REMEMBER, ERDOGAN BLAMED THE U.S. FOR THAT "COUP ATTEMPT".]
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim insinuated that the Americans may be viewed as partners, at least passive ones, in the conspiracy, in view of the use the plotters made of Incirlik for sending aircraft based there and arming them for the missions of intercepting the President’s airplane (which was never realized) and bombing the Parliament building in Ankara (which was).
The Turkish Labor Minister, Süleyman Soylu, was more explicit: “This coup has America behind,” he twitted in his Twitter account.
THE RECENT THREATS ERDOGAN MADE TO OUR U.S. FORCES THERE.
The Washington Times reports that a senior aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested American troops could be targeted alongside their Kurdish allies in the country’s ongoing air war against the militias.
Erdogan's senior presidential aide Ilnur Cevik said U.S. forces who are teamed up with members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, were in danger of being hit by Turkish fighters patrolling the volatile border region with Syria.If YPG units and their American military advisers “go too far, our forces would not care if American armor is there, whether armored carriers are there,” Mr. Cevik said. “All of a sudden, by accident, a few rockets can hit them.”
AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, BY NO ACCIDENT, FIRE COULD RAIN FROM THE SKY ALL OVER TURKEY, BUT THEN AGAIN, MAYBE SOME (MOST?) OF OUR 200 OR SO NUCLEAR WARHEADS ARE STILL IN TURKEY AT THE INCIRLIK AIR BASE?
Last month, the Boston Herald reported that about 200 MORE Marines rolled into northern Syria backed with howitzers, significantly widening America's footprint in a highly toxic battlefield.
THIS REPORT SHOULD SHOW THE WORLD WHY TURKEY IS REALLY IN THE MIX IN SYRIA...TO KILL KURDS.
Footage posted by Syrian activists online showed a convoy of U.S. armored vehicles driving on a rural road in the village of Darbasiyah, a few hundred meters from the Turkish border. Clashes in the area were reported between Turkish and Kurdish forces Wednesday a day after the Turkish airstrike which also destroyed a Kurdish command headquarters.
The Turkish airstrikes, which also wounded 18 members of the U.S.-backed People's Protection Units, or YPG, in Syria were criticized by both the U.S. and Russia.
The YPG is a close U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State group but is seen by Ankara as a terrorist group because of its ties to Turkey's Kurdish rebels.
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES, APRIL 28, 2017, FURTHER CONFIRMATION OF ARMORED U.S. TROOP MOVEMENT IN SYRIA, "BOOTS ON THE GROUND" STYLE:
'The Marines' deployment came days after another intervention, when dozens of Army troops drove outside the town of Manbij, riding Stryker armored vehicles, following an earlier conflagration of fighting between Syrian Kurdish troops and Turkish troops.
The U.S. deployment in Manbij intentionally put Americans in the middle of that rivalry, hoping to cool it down.
The SDF retook Manbij from IS control, and Turkey said it won't allow the town to be under Kurdish control, threatening to move on it. The American presence appears intended to reassure Ankara the Kurds don't hold the town.
Kurdish activist in the area, Mustafa Bali, said the deployment is ongoing, adding that it stretches from the Iraqi border to areas past Darbasiyah in the largely Kurdish part of eastern Syria.
But the new deployment puts U.S. troops directly along the border with Turkey, another flashpoint, and immerses Washington into that increasingly hot fight. Should Erdogan happen to launch a strike against a zone containing US troops, he can simply say he was aiming elsewhere, although the retaliation by his NATO ally would be prompt.
It remains unclear if the US is now actively seeking to engage Turkey on the combat field, and is looking for a politically correct, and media friendly pretext to do so. It is also unclear what a conflict between the US and Turkey would mean for the rest of NATO: it certainly would set a precedent, as never before has fighting broken out between two alliance members.'
OUR TROOPS ARE DEFINITELY IN HARM'S WAY ON ALL SIDES, FROM VOLATILE, SIDE-SWITCHING 'REBEL' FORCES FIGHTING BOTH FOR AND AGAINST ASSAD, FROM ISIS, AND NOW FROM TURKEY.
Just three days after Turkish warplanes killed at least 20 US-backed Kurdish fighters along the Turkey-Syria border as well as several Kurdish peshmerga troops on Mount Sinjar in northwestern Iraq, footage posted by Syrian activists showed the US has deployed troops and APCs in the contested region, in a move that could potentially drag the US in a conflict where it already finds itself mediating between two so-called US ally forces in the proxy war against Syria.
The US appears to have deployed troops along the border: to serve as a deterrent to further Turkish attacks.
A senior Kurdish official, Ilham Ahmad told The Associated Press that American forces began carrying out patrols along the border Thursday along with reconnaissance flights in the area. She said the deployment was in principle temporary, but may become more permanent. Another Kurdish activist said the deployment is ongoing, adding that it stretches from the Iraqi border to areas past Darbasiyah in the largely Kurdish part of eastern Syria.
"The U.S. role has now become more like a buffer force between us and the Turks on all front lines," he said. He said U.S. forces will also deploy as a separation force in areas where the Turkish-backed Syrian fighting forces and the Kurdish forces meet.
As noted above, the US intervention is meant to send a "a message of reassurance for the Kurds and almost a warning message" to the Turks, he said.
NO DENYING U.S. PRESENCE NEAR TURKISH AIRSTRIKES
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, did not dispute that U.S. troops are operating with elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) along the Turkish border, but he would not get into specifics. The SDF is a Kurdish-dominated alliance fighting IS that includes Arab fighters.
"We have U.S. forces that are there throughout the entirety of northern Syria that operate with our Syrian Democratic Force partners," Davis said. "The border is among the areas where they operate." He said the U.S. wants the SDF to focus on liberating the IS-held town of Tabqa and the extremist group's de facto capital, Raqqa, "and not be drawn into conflicts elsewhere."
REMEMBER WHEN SOME NEWS AGENCIES IN THAT AREA REPORTED THAT THERE MIGHT BE U.S. NUKES INSIDE SYRIA, EVEN AT TABQA?
IF SO, DID ERDOGAN OR THE U.S. PUT THEM THERE?
REUTERS NEWS, MARCH 6, 2016:
"U.S. builds two air bases in Kurdish-controlled north Syria"
In August 2016 EurActiv.com, a Belgian news site which receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, claimed from two unnamed sources that the US had started to transfer the nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey....
THE 'VOICE OF AMERICA' ASKED, AUG. 5, 2016,
"How Safe Are US Nuclear Weapons in Turkey?"
"This particular airbase, Incirlik, is in southern Turkey.
The Turkish commander of the base recently was frog-marched off in handcuffs after being accused of involvement in last month's failed coup against the government.
And that is the problem, says nonproliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterrey, California.
"I think in the near term they are very safe," Lewis said of the bombs in an interview with VOA. "But there are no security measures that would be sufficient against a host state that is trying to seize them, so generally speaking, it is not a good idea to have nuclear weapons in a politically unstable country."
World leaders have reacted with unease.
And so have experts in nuclear weapons policy.
"There are a lot of tough barriers, but incidents and accidents have a nasty way of happening," said Hans Kristensen, director of the Federation of American Scientists' nuclear information project.
"You only get so many warnings before something goes terribly wrong, and there are plenty of warnings in the region now," Kristensen said.
According to Amy Woolf, a specialist in nuclear weapons policy at the Congressional Research Service, Turkey neither maintains nuclear capable aircraft nor allows the U.S. to permanently deploy its own at the base.
"PERMANENTLY"?
BUT THEY DO FLY IN AND OUT OF THAT TURKISH-CONTROLLED AIR BASE!
Currently, some of the planes that rotate through Incirlik in the war against terrorism are nuclear capable, but they are not designated for any nuclear mission. "
ALL THAT "NONE ARE NUCLEAR CAPABLE" ROT IS B.S. ANYWAY.
THERE ARE PLANES THAT CAN DELIVER A NUCLEAR WEAPON OVER THERE!
IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE U.S. SOLD TURKEY 49 FIGHTER-BOMBERS, THE F-4 PHANTOM II, WHICH IS AND HAS BEEN CAPABLE OF DELIVERING THE LIGHTER WEIGHT B-61 BOMBS.
TURKEY ALSO HAS 196 F-16C AND 44 F-16D FIGHTING FALCONS.
. FOR PROOF OF THAT, SEE Aircraft in the Inventory". hvkk.tsk.tr. Turkish Air Force.
HERE'S A 'SHORT LIST' OF ALL THE AIRCRAFT CAPABLE OF DELIVERING A B-61 BOMB. I'VE UNDERLINED AND TYPED IN RED THOSE THAT TURKEY HAS NOW:
"The B61 has been deployed by a variety of U.S. military aircraft. Aircraft cleared for its use have included the FB-111A, B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit, B-52 Stratofortress; F-101 Voodoo, F-100 D & F Super Sabre, F-104 Starfighter, F/A-18 Hornet, F-111 Aardvark and F-4 Phantom II fighter bombers; A-4 Skyhawk, A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II attack aircraft; the F-15 Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16 Falcon; British, German and Italian Panavia Tornado IDS aircraft. USAFE and all NATO dual role aircraft can carry B61s. The Lockheed S-3 Viking was also able to deploy the B61 as a nuclear depth bomb.
The B61 can fit inside the F-22 Raptor's weapons bays and will also be carried by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. [SOURCE: "Nukes for NATO." Airforce Magazine, July 2010 ]
NATO has agreed to vastly improve the capabilities of this force with the increased accuracy of the B61 Mod 12 upgrade and the delivery of the stealthy F-35. [ 21 April 2013. "Obama accused of nuclear U-turn as guided weapons plan emerges". The Guardian. https://fas.org/blog/ssp/2012/05/nonstrategicnukes.php ]
VARIOUS air-dropping techniques for the B-61 exist, including toss bombing, parachute-retarded delivery, and lay-down modes, intended to give the dropping aircraft time to escape the ensuing blast.
By the mid-1950s smaller weapons had been developed that could be carried and deployed by fighter-bombers.
Hypersonic Glide Vehicles are a new potential method of nuclear delivery.
They can be potentially combined with ICBM MIRVs such as RS-28 Sarmat."
AND, BTW, THE BIGGEST BOMB EVER DROPPED, RUSSIA'S "TZAR BOMBA", WAS DROPPED BY A VERY SLOW-MOVING, LUMBERING TANK OF A PLANE, SO SPEED AND MANEUVERABILITY ISN'T ALL IT TAKES.
BESIDES, WHEN WE SEE MUSLIMS BLOWING THEMSELVES TO POWDER TO BECOME "MARTYRS", WHY WOULDN'T SOME VOLUNTEER FOR A SUICIDE MISSION TO DELIVER A NUKE TO THE 'ENEMY'?
REMEMBER 9/11?
GERMAN AIRCRAFT, CAPABLE OF DELIVERING NUCLEAR PAYLOADS, WERE ALSO STATIONED AT INCIRLIK UNTIL AFTER THE BIG 'COUP ATTEMPT' IN 2016, AFTER WHICH, AS I REPORTED BEFORE, GERMANY WAS EYING BOTH CRETE AND JORDAN AS POSSIBLE DESTINATIONS FOR THEIR AIRCRAFT AND WEAPONRY.
"Currently the German Luftwaffe has Panavia Tornados to deliver American nuclear bombs in case of war."
NATO HAS PROMISED TO PROVIDE OR RE-EQUIP AIRCRAFT CAPABLE OF DELIVERING NUCLEAR PAYLOADS TO ITS "MEMBER STATES" IN CASE OF 'NUCLEAR THREAT' FROM RUSSIA, ETC.
IT'S CALLED "NUCLEAR SHARING".
IF WE ALLOW GERMANY AND ITALY AND JAPAN, ALL WHOM WE FOUGHT AGAINST IN WORLD WAR II, TO FLY SUCH AIRCRAFT, WOULD NATO DISALLOW TURKEY, WHOM WE HAVEN'T YET INVADED OR BLOWN UP?
NOPE.
SO WHY DON'T WE GET THE NUKES THE HELL OUT OF ERDOGAN'S GRASP?
POLITICS!
OUR POLITICIANS/FOREIGN AFFAIRS "EXPERTS" FEEL THAT ERDOGAN MIGHT RUN TO RUSSIA'S OR IRAN'S WAITING ARMS... WHICH HE HAS DONE ALREADY WHEN HE WAS PISSED-OFF AT THE U.S. "U.S. defense policy expert Kori Schake at the Hoover Institution told VOA that removing the weapons from Turkish soil would send the wrong signal to the American ally.
Turkey – which feels highly exposed by the upheaval in Syria and the Middle East overall – would develop alliances with Russia or even Iran.
"Even if Turkey does not have a lot in common with Iran, it might not have a lot of good choices if the U.S. were not seen as [its] guarantor," Schake said."
With American nukes strewn all around Europe, especially those in volatile Turkey, the question becomes, "If we REALLY don't plan to use them, why are they being left in locations where they can be compromised by lunatics like Erdogan or dedicated detroyers like the Islamic State?
AND WHAT IF ERDOGAN DID STRIKE A DEAL WITH, SAY, IRAN, TO HAND OVER THAT ENTIRE AIR BASE IN RETURN FOR 'FAVORS'?
IRAN ALSO HAS NUCLEAR CAPABLE AIRCRAFT.
TOO MANY DAMNABLE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS, TOO MUCH AT STAKE...PRECIOUS AMERICAN LIVES, AND THE CIVILIANS WHO CONTINUE TO BE UNDER ASSAULT FROM ALL SIDES.
IT'S AS BAD AS YEMEN, WHERE THE U.S. HAS "AIDED' THE SAUDIS IN KILLING THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS, WOMEN AND CHILDREN INCLUDED.
TRUMP SHOULD SIMPLY PULL THE U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND LET THOSE NATIONS DECIDE WHOM THEY WANT TO LEAD THEM.
AMERICA WOULD SAVE TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS, STOP ALIENATING THE WHOLE WORLD WITH ITS "POLICING" AND INVASIONS AND WE JUST MIGHT SEE EVERYTHING QUICKLY CALM DOWN OVER THERE ONCE NOBODY WAS BEING AIDED BY THE U.S.
IF WE STOPPED PROVIDING EVERY 'REBEL' GROUP OVER THERE WITH 'WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION', THAT MIGHT HELP.
ANYTHING THAT CAN KILL HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE AT ONCE IS, AFTER ALL, A 'WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION', ISN'T IT?
IF WE STOPPED BLASTING AWAY AT ALL OF SAUDI ARABIA'S ENEMIES, THAT WOULD ALSO HELP. AFTER ALL, ALMOST ALL THOSE 9/11 HIJACKERS WERE WHAT? SAUDI CITIZENS, YES?
____________________________________________________________
.FURTHER READING
~ Cause of death a mystery as remains of Tampa airman are returned from Turkey, 04/17/17.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Curtis John “CJ” Gardner, age 29, was found unconscious and unresponsive in his room at Incirlik Air Base on the morning of April 10.
He had been stationed at Incirlik for the past 15 months, but was due to be transferred to Ramstein Air Base the following week.
Gardner arrived at Incirlik shortly before opposition forces mounted a failed coup against Turkish President Recep Erdogan. Tension in Turkey made his tour of duty even more stressful than his previous deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, his sister said.
"We know they have been under an extreme amount of stress that few outside the military are aware of," Erin Gardner said.
Family could not stay with troops at Incirlik, then, after the aborted coup, the base was surrounded by angry Turks. Power was cut. There was no water, or air conditioning for 10 days. The base remained tense even afterward, more so with the U.S. missile strike April 7 on an air base in Syria and with the ongoing campaign against Islamic State.
AS OF 5 DAYS AGO, "The official cause of death is (STILL) under investigation."
~ WHERE WERE AMERICAN NUKES IN EUROPE?
DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS THAT MOST AMERICANS ARE NOT AWARE EXIST.
TRULY A MUST-READ.
~ MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION IS NO LONGER A VALID DETERRENT.
AN ARTICLE WELL WORTH THE READ
"At a time of growing tensions between nuclear powers — Russia and NATO in Europe, and the United States, North Korea and China in Asia — Washington has quietly upgraded its nuclear weapons arsenal to create, according to three leading American scientists, “exactly what one would expect to see, if a nuclear-armed state were planning to have the capacity to fight and win a nuclear war by disarming enemies with a surprise first strike.”
Writing in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, Matthew McKinzie of the National Resources Defense Council, and physicist and ballistic missile expert Theodore Postol conclude that “Under the veil of an otherwise-legitimate warhead life-extension program,” the US military has vastly expanded the “killing power” of its warheads such that it can “now destroy all of Russia’s ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] silos.”
~ FOR A MOST INTERESTING DISCUSSION BY EX-MILITARY PILOTS WHICH SHOWS HOW EASILY A NUCLEAR BOMB COULD BE DEPLOYED BY VARIOUS AIRCRAFT, GO <HERE>.
~ TURKEY GOT KICKED OUT OF IRAQ, BY 'FELLOW MUSLIMS'
EVEN THEY KNOW HE HAS DELUSIONS OF WORLD DOMINATION, REESTABLISHMENT OF THE OLD TURKISH EMPIRE.
Turkey tosses a monkey wrench into the Mosul offensive. Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan says Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is “insulting” him for demanding that his unwelcome 2,000 or so troops depart their northern Iraqi training base at Bashiqa.
Erdogan told a crowd in Istanbul this morning, “Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa, and now they are telling us to leave, but the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you…The Iraqi prime minister is insulting me, first know your limits.”
Why this is a big deal:
“The Turkish presence is massively destabilizing. Reports Turkey has stepped up its training of [former parliament speaker Osama] Nujayfi’s militia has set off alarm bells,” writes Middle East analyst Kirk Sowell of Utica Risk Services. “This matters for two reasons.
One, these aren’t just random local Ninawa residents. They are the private army of Osama al-Nujayfi. Nujayfi has long ties to Turkey; in 2010, he flipped from Arab nationalist to working with [Masoud] Barzani’s [Kurdistan Democratic Party] because of the policy change in Ankara.
Two, this could increase the chance of direct conflict between Baghdad forces and Turkey-backed Sunni forces, or even Turkish forces directly. If Turkey were simply concerned about fighting ISIS, this would be less of a problem. But this is an effort to set of a zone of influence…This also hugely undermines U.S. policy in Iraq, which depends on strengthening Iraqi govt institutions versus Shia militias.” More on his take, here.
//WW
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