Nuclear warheads mistakenly flown on B-52, landing at

[katty]

more: http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070904/NEWS01/70904040

Nuclear warheads mistakenly flown on B-52, landing at Barksdale AFB
By Michael Hoffman
Military Times

A B-52 bomber mistakenly loaded with five nuclear warheads flew from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, resulting in an Air Force-wide investigation, according to three officers who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.

The B-52 was loaded with Advanced Cruise Missiles, part of a Defense Department effort to decommission 400 of the ACMs. But the nuclear warheads should have been removed at Minot before being transported to Barksdale, the officers said. The missiles were mounted onto the pylons of the bomber’s wings.

Advanced Cruise Missiles carry a W80-1 warhead with a yield of 5 to 150 kilotons and are specifically designed for delivery by B-52 strategic bombers

[tekisui]

1. This really takes the cake.--nt

[screembloodymurder]

2. Yep, we're just one bomb away.

Did they mention whose?

[katty]

3. why am I not surprised-w/ fatman and little boy in the WH

[Bennyboy]

4. There HAS TO BE MORE TO THE STORY.....

I am guessing that nukes are pretty hard to get to....I am thinking you would need all kinds of security clearance, orders etc, to even come within a billion miles of a nuke.

Anyways, here is an interesting story I found:

Staging Nukes for Iran?
by L C Johnson
Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 01:41:10 PM PDT

By Larry Johnson (bio/blog)

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 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 movethe
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.

Now maybe there is an innocent explanation for this? I can’t think
of one. What is certain is that the pilots of this plane did not just make a last minute decision to strap on some nukes and take them for a joy ride. We need some tough questions and clear answers. What the hell is going on?
Did someone at Barksdale try to indirectly warn the American people that the Bush Administration is staging nukes for Iran? I don’t know, but it is a question worth asking.

[katty]

5. concur-this is extremely unusual-and someone blew the whistle