Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?

Did someone at Barksdale try to indirectly warn the American people that the Bush Administration is staging nukes for Iran?

Staging Nuke for Iran? | TPMCafe


PS EDIT here is the lead story for any who may have missed it.

Commander disciplined for nuclear mistake - USATODAY.com

Choux

Hm. I saw the story, but not being knowledgeable about weapons and military stuff, I didn't know what to think. It seems that nuclear warheads aren't flown around for the fun of it or in ignorance that they are on board.

The Staging Nukes for Iran article you provided a link for was very helpful; inside information always is. An attack on Iran is part of one scenario the Bush Admin has to improve the situation in the Middle East. I went into the strategy on a previous question.

I would say that the leak was on purpose and moving the nukes was on purpose. Let Ahminajabber and the Immams get loose bowels for awhile. The plan that I read about does include over 1,200 bomb/missle hits on Iranian military sites. Probably a few will go off target and take out the government. Of course, we will apologize.

tomder55

or perhaps it was an intentional messages to the Mullocracy ? We have at least 2 carrier strike forces forward deployed in and around the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. No one even questions the fact that they have nukes in their arsenal.

I note that there has been a few pieces of "good news " regarding Iran in the days since the incident . Iran's Assembly of Experts chose a new chairman. This is the body of clerics that determines who will be the supreme leader . The relatively moderate Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ,a rival to the Mahdi Hatter , Mahmoud Ahmamadjihad was chosen. This move possibly signals the end of the reign of terror by the Mahdi Hatter.

The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard was also recently replaced. Mohammed Ali Jafari was named . This was in response to reports that the U.S. is considering putting the Revolutionary Guards on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.

Rafsanjani called for more talks with the West and has openly been in favor of engagement with the United States.When Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei eventually croaks (may the merciful Allah grant this sooner rather than later) Rafsanjani will appoint his replacement .

Also Haleh Esfandiari ;one of the Americans who had been kidnapped and largely ignored by the American press was released and returned home this week.

Perhaps these events are unrelated but I don't think so. Iran is responding to the ramped up pressure .

Dark_crow

I’ve read a ton of speculation on the incident and some from military and counterespionage people. Some see it as a threat to Russia and China to stay out of the Middle East; others say a threat to Iran. As a rule of thumb I always lean toward the chaos theory rather than the conspiracy; so what is it…a whistle blower or a deliberate propagandist sending a message to someone?

labman

We have people in the Middle East that hate us. Likely they have ever since John Paul Jones called their attention to the then new nation by breaking up their Barbary Pirates game. When did the Marines land on the shores of Tripoli? Even if the new video is fake, what Bin Laden said about us being vulnerable is true. Fortunately we have a president with the intelligence and backbone to do something.

iamgrowler

I think you're confusing JPJ with someone else, Labman.

JPJ had been dead and buried for nearly a decade before the start of the first of the two Barbary Wars.


Spring of 1805 -- Thirteen years after the death of JPJ.


Especially with our military stretched as thin as it is.


Y'know, I use to think the same thing -- Then I came to the conclusion that our President is a blithering idiot who made a conscious decision to surround himself with other like-minded blithering idiots.

ETWolverine

Diplomacy and military action do not happen independently of each other. It is my opinion that Bush moved nukes to staging areas in the Middle East to send a message to Iran. The message was a simple one: start acting in a diplomaticly sincere manner, or else.

Karl von Clausewicz said it best: that "war is diplomacy carried out by non-diplomatic means". What he is really saying is that the tools of war are the currency of diplomacy: without the ability and willingness to wage war, there can be no satisfactory diplomatic resolution to any situation. Bush was reminding Ahmadinejad of our willingness and ability to wage war. And as Tom noted, that has sort of greased the gears of diplomacy.

This is very much like a poker game. If Ahmadinejad decides that the threat of war isn't real, he will continue to act aggressively... essentially calling what he sees as Bush's "bluff". If we, the USA, aren't willing or able to show that we have the cards to back up our bets, war will ensue, started by Iranian actions. If, on the other hand, Ahmadinejad is convinced that we are not bluffing, he will back down and war will be avoided. But the currency and the cards of this poker game is our military strength.

Texas Hold-'em, nuclear style. And Bush doesn't bluff.

Elliot

iAMfromHuntersBar

You're worried about a couple of bombs on a plane when the US have got at least a dozen submarines, each with 24 trident missiles (each costing a cool $31 Million, with a 7000 mile range and a 8 * 475Kt payload)?! ... I think it's a non-story to be honest!