MSNBCWP reports that the Pentagon is planning to test a "Bunker Buster" Bomb in Nevada.
Recall that on April 8, 2006, Sy Hersh wrote about the DoD planning to use nuclear bunker buster bombs against Iran.
In that same NewYorker article, Hersh said that
One of the military’s initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites.
Now the military is determined to test a bunker buster in Nevada. It just doesn't seem coincidental.
The MSNBC/WP article states:
The Pentagon plans to test a 700-ton ammonium-nitrate-and-fuel-oil "bunker buster" weapon on the Nevada Test Site, a 1,375-square-mile chunk of desert. Divine Strake will demonstrate the impact on deeply buried tunnels should a U.S. complex be attacked, or should the United States attack a bunker in another country. No date for the test has been set.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) planned to conduct Divine Strake last June, but a Reno lawyer got an injunction to stop it.
The 'Defense Threat Reduction Agency'? It is a strange name, but it seems to fit the Bush theory about Iran -- that just like Iraq, we need to invade to reduce the potential threat against the U.S. (I wonder if that group existed before they were planning to attack Iraq? Anyone know?)
The Union of Concerned Scientists has an animation about what would happen if the U.S. dropped such a bomb. They show the impact of the bomb -- including the spread of radioactive material more than 1000 miles.
The Union of Concerned Scientists said a 1 megaton bomb (60 times the impact of the Hiroshima bomb) would kill 3 million people and that 35 million would be exposed to cancer causing radioactive materials. The animation also provides some discussion about why conventional bombs would be more appropriate to use.
The Bush Administration gets scarier every day. The only ones who seem committed to stand up to Bush and Cheney are Senator Feingold and Senator Kennedy. I pray that Congress does something before it is too late.