Sunday, April 09, 2006

Ever heard of a B61-11?

It’s a nuclear weapon. Specifically one of the ‘new’ bunker busting nukes that according to Seymour Hersh, GW Bush may be planning to use against Iran in the immediate future.

Do we believe it or is it just a bluff designed to make the Iranians react?
What I find interesting is the reaction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:


“There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing
nuclear weapons against other countries,” the adviser told me. “This goes to
high levels.” The matter may soon reach a decisive point, he said, because the
Joint Chiefs had agreed to give President Bush a formal recommendation stating
that they are strongly opposed to considering the nuclear option for Iran. “The
internal debate on this has hardened in recent weeks,” the adviser said. “And,
if senior Pentagon officers express their opposition to the use of offensive
nuclear weapons, then it will never happen.”

It’s curious in one sense because no weapon is more dangerous than the will to use it and in another because it hints at limits placed on the US government by its own military command.
I don’t know much about the psyche of the average American citizen, but I do know that the use of nuclear weapons, ANY nuclear weapons, will go down like a lead balloon in the UK.

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