Hmmmm

Larry, what is Putin doing?  Mobilizing his strategic bombers that have been moth-balled since the end of the cold war. Violating British air space, Alaskan air space, Guam, Georgian air space?  Nothing's written in stone, allegations are flying this way or that. But something's going on.  My guess is that Iran certainly figures in somewhere, but it may be a pretext to a broader issue - specifically the forming geopolitical context over Caspian oil and gas.  

There's a terrific piece in the Asia Times today on the newly completed USACE built bridge spaning the Oxus River in the Panjir region of Afghanistan, connecting stratigically important Tajikistan with Afghanistan.  A major nibble at Russian energy hegemony in Central Asia.  I wouldn't be surprised if terrorists attack this bridge in the near future.  But my inclination is that the "great game" referred to by the author, M K Bhadrakumar, is the central informing element in US policy in Central Asia, and Iran plays a key role in everyone's ambitions in this part of the world.  

So yes, I think it makes sense to start moving US nukes around - regrettably so. 

Neoboho

The more likely explanation for the leak of the info is that, instead of a brave whistleblower trying to stop the war machine, it was an intentional Cheney cabal gambit in their ongoing simultaneous agitprop campaigns targeting the Pentagon/realists and the Iranians.

OK. Should we loosen up some cannon as well?

.> This is getting creepier and creepier.

That's the kind of phrase I generally read when my eyeballs are singed by accidentally reading a Radical Right meme e-mail. Let's stay reality-based here: 99.85% chance this was a mistake. A stupid, career-ending mistake, but then again that is why there are PALs on the warheads themselves.

sPh

You might be surprised, JeffC.  While I was in Vietnam some of the best critiques of the war and the military itself I read on the pages of the Army Times.  Things may have changed since then, obviously, but I can certainly remember thinking "I can't believe I read that in a military rag." 

Neoboho

Putin violating British and American airspace?? What fantasies are you trying to push? This is pure garbage.

The number one threat to peace in the world today is the USA. There is no close second. If the US is repositioning nuclear weapons at an airbase serving the ME we should be very very worried. Last year Hirsh revealed that Pentgon gamers were looking into the nuclear option regarding Iran. According to his sources this was not routine. His sources mentioned that more sober minded military types were trying to 'walk this plan' back into the closet.

Either way -- agitprop for the Iranians, or a whistleblower alert -- it isn't good.

At some point, all necessary munitions, fuel, and personnel will be in place, armed and (if necessary) programmed -- all depending upon what's called for in the operational plans. Then a 'go' order can be given. And if there is an operational plan regarding Iran that calls for nuclear-tipped cruise missles -- it's even less good.

I'm not sure about B-52 Wings, but our B-2 fleet is based at Whiteman AFB in Missouri. The B-2 can carry conventional, or nuclear, munitions. If anyone has friends there, and remembers what it was like when they were launched in 2003 -- when they hear it happening again, we may be 18 to 20 hours from a more serious war -- that's as long as it will take them to reach targets in Iran. That will be seriously not good.

This isn't brinksmanship. It's something else.

Oh good grief! This "bomb Iran" paranoia is getting as tiresome and absurd as the mirror iamge paranoia on the Right where there's always some dastardly terrorist plot about to go down.
How do you know there were nukes? A groundless rumor spread by someone claiming to be inside the base, when for all you know it was some blogger a thousand miles away? And while the Bush administration is notoriously incompetent, I trust the military is still on the ball enough not to parade its nukes around in plain sight of the world outside their bases (they also don't have those little atom symbols painted on them as they do in the cartoons; in fact I'm not sure how anyone not in the know would be able to tell a nuclear topped missile from a conventional missile.
Can we plaese get back to talking about serious adult stuff that we might actually be able to do something about-- like next year's election, universal healthcare, the mortgage marlet mess, and the rest of that stuff. There's quite enough trouble in the real world without borrowing more from the imagination.

"How do you know there were nukes? A groundless rumor spread by someone claiming to be inside the base, when for all you know it was some blogger a thousand miles away?"

No, the story is from the Military Times. Did you even bother to really look at this? I am not sure if this merits a 1 or a 0.

Bush makes everyone paranoid...and for good reason.
What I'd like to know is what happens to the warheads now. Okay it was a mistake...but now that they're here already do they just keep them there? At a airbase that is a jump start point for ME operations? I can see how it got press as "look at what some dumbshit did" but the paranoia comes from the base involved. What happens to the nukes now is worth noting

I lived through the missile crisis, although I was pretty young. Worhth considering is that Kennedy's first reaction on discovering that Kruschev had put one over on us was summary use of force to destroy the installations. It was actually CIA director McCone that talked him down to bargaining. And it was of course a little humbling for Kennedy to learn exactly how many Jupiter missiles we had positioned on Turkish soil, pointed at Russia.

More than a few people, especially the principals, were surprised when they woke the next morning, still alive. Russian theater commanders had authority to use the nukes, and there are stories of one being close to doing so in response to the blockade. Curtis LeMay couldn't wait to invade. But still, it didn't happen, we cut a deal, and so on.

I take the lesson that when the bet is upped by bringing in nukes, people get real attentive. My guess is that if people are talking nukes re Iran, it won't happen. It's when they think they can do it all with precision conventional ordinance that they feel no hesitation.

Still, it smells bad. Wonder if we'll find out without having to wait fifty years for declassification.

J. McCutchen

What on earth are you talking about? "Makes sense" why? The Russians R coming? The IslamoFascists? The Ayatollahs?

Nuke Waziristan.

This country is chock full o nuts. Iraq proved that

They must be up to something...why else would Tucker have Ed Schultz and Eugene Robinson on talking about everything BUT this?

It will be interesting to see if the MSM buries this story until the big event.

From Santa Rosa's, Ca. Press Democrat 9/5/07:

Admiral William Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, addressing the San Francisco Commonwealth Club on Monday "criticized Iran for it's 'unhelpful role' in the Middle East, but said the United States is not contemplating an invasion." "I don't plan to attack the place. That's not my charter."

He was also giving a 'rosy' picture of results of the troop surge in Iraq, so that reassures me on Iran.

not. good.
BUT: crude oil futures for nov and dec. haven't moved significantly - except the open interest on Dec. contracts (but that can be attributed to seasonal factors: traders are like sheep, they expect a cold winter). So the markets say no Iran run for now. Then again, the markets are right until they're wrong...
[CT]
One million page hits against Bush!!!

I agree with mcboo, and I have the same kind of sensations around this.

I was one of the kids practicing duck-and-cover drills during the last two weeks of October in 1962 -- which even in the fifth grade, we believed were only to give us something to feel 'involved' in Civil Defense. Of course, we were five miles from a Minuteman missle field, so no one had any illusions that being under a desk meant anything.

Governments always prefer to keep public awareness of potential disaster low, usually for good reasons -- but this 'administration' is secretive for different reasons: When you're going to break the law, you don't want anyone to know in advance.

A mistake? To fly with any ordinance requires sign-offs from ground crew, chain of authority, etc. And nukes are far and beyond other ordinance.

The claim they accidentally forgot to remove the warheads and didn't notice, after it was leaked they were moved, not plausible. It's not like nuclear warheads are disassembled on the runway and left beside the fuel trucks. Removal of a warhead is going to set gears into motion, any number of which are sure to notice they don't have the warheads.

Presuming these were nukes as alleged and this info was leaked, either by a whistle blower or a deliberate propagandist sending a message to someone, the probability of movement by mistake is close to zero.

So Nancy can play with her grandchildren (who could get fried along with the rest of us because Grandmom took "impeachment off the table"). Geez, Denny Hastert already did that. Thanks again, Democratic party leaders (also known as idiots and/or cowards and/or career path over everything - even your grandchildren's future)!Tom

Nukes flying over Louisiana??

Maybe the US Army Corps of Engineers' latest scheme for rebuilding the levees?

And while we're nuking Iran, guess who's sleeping snug as a bug in a rug:

www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com

Osama bin Laden must be laughing his ass off? I mean, how could God not be on his side?

Garbage?  Fantasies?  My gosh, you have Google at your fingertips - at least you could have checked before putin your foot in your mouth.

RAF scrambles to intercept Russian bombers (July 18, 07)

Russian bombers buzz US base in Guam

Report: Missile came from Russian airspace (Geo