White House Requests Emergency Funds to Modify B-2's to Carry Newest Bunker Buster....

This better not be a tease, because like every guy, I hate teases....

Tucked inside the White House's $196 billion emergency funding request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is an item that has some people wondering whether the administration is preparing for military action against Iran.

The item: $88 million to modify B-2 stealth bombers so they can carry a newly developed 30,000-pound bomb called the massive ordnance penetrator, or, in military-speak, the MOP.

The MOP is the the military's largest conventional bomb, a super "bunker-buster" capable of destroying hardened targets deep underground. The one-line explanation for the request said it is in response to "an urgent operational need from theater commanders."

There doesn't appear to be any potential targets for a bomb like that in Iraq. It could potentially be used on Taliban or al Qaeda hideouts in the caves along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but there would be no need to use a stealth bomber there.

So where would the military use a stealth bomber armed with a 30,000-pound bomb like this? Defense analysts say the most likely target for this bomb would be Iran's flagship nuclear facility in Natanz, which is both heavily fortified and deeply buried.

"You'd use it on Natanz," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. "And you'd use it on a stealth bomber because you want it to be a surprise. And you put in an emergency funding request because you want to bomb quickly."

The MOP is a massive bomb -- 20 feet long and encased in 3.5 inch thick high-performance steel. It is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding.

Rest here>>

W Zip

Comments

[David I]

Last I heard, the bunker buster technology was not considered a success.

While designed to theoretically penetrate far underground, they have not reliably done so in tests.

[tsarbomba]

Now THAT'S a Golpher Getter!

[Philadelphia Steve]

Re: "wondering whether the administration is preparing for military action against Iran"

"Wondering"?

What is there to "wonder" about?

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are so pleased witht their brilliance in executing the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistant that, of course, they want to bless the United States with another war and occupation of Iran.

Count on it.

100%.

And, by the way...

By this time next year we will be hearing from the Conservatives statements beginning with, "But no one could have anticipated...."

Count on that too.

100%

[Carl Gordon]

Hey, I'd be slipshod if I didn't admit that I sometimes seem to dwell inappropriately on the ignorant woes of innocent (for the most part) dupes that voted for these conservative chuckleheads because they’re too lazy or stupid to figure it out - it must be as tiring for you to read as it is to exert the effort to penetrate their thick skulls with the penlight of reason and the laser beam of humanity, what little will remain of it after we throw these lying dopes out. But presently I'm laboring under the crushing stone of being and nothingness, cleaning up spills in the “facts” aisle, whilst constantly having to remind certain conservative family values religious right types that a certain door is an exit, not an entrance. But dismantling phony mind and media infrastructure and the very real darkness at the core of their debauched philosophy, or chemically induced reality simulacra due to over diligence, blah, blah, blah, is hard work. Speaking of reality, three of the Republican hopefuls for president don't believe in evolution. Further proof that we descended from monkeys, I suppose.

[W Zip]

"George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are so pleased witht their brilliance in executing the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistant that, of course, they want to bless the United States with another war and occupation of Iran"

Your Iraq argument is now moot, you lost, we won, move on...

[Carl Gordon]

Perhaps we are being too harsh on the inbred - maybe it's just their nature, much like a mildly retarded person would grapple with deep concepts like humanity, maturity, intelligence, and fear of getting wacked on the pee-pee by some bearded guy up in the sky right behind Uranus. Their pathetic suffering from delusions of self-grandeur and an innate need for everybody to pay attention to them, at times left to question the truth in their own un-edited version of events, as their tallow-rich diatribes and con-artist confessions render an image of a self-interested people who erroneously view themselves superior to men, dogs, flounders and all other aquatic life forms. Who knows? Until enlightenment strikes them in the face like the business end of a fist, you and I are just going to have to endure whilst they try and figure it all out, hopefully before they soil themselves.

[announcerguy]

"Tucked inside the White House's $196 billion emergency funding request..."

EMERGENCY funding request? As in, "gee, we couldn't have seen the need for this...let's just insert another ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SIX BILLION off budget, put it on the credit card and have the kids pay for it!"

Bunkerbusters for Iran? How's that a good idea...since they're not that effective, and they'd be deployed by an administration that's FUBAR'd everything they've touched.

Oh, and your comment regarding Iraq: "you lost, we won, move on..."

This is a parody site, right??