The Hostage Air Base – and Its Hydrogen Bombs

American Thinker ^ | July 20, 2016 | Stephen D. Bryen and Shoshana Bryen

[Kaslin]

The United States runs its air operations against ISIS in Iraq from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. The base, used by other NATO forces as well, is not American. It is Turkish, and the U.S. needs government permission to fly from there. Since the 15 July coup attempt in Ankara, U.S. forces at Incirlik are essentially hostages to the Turkish government. The Turkish base commander and his aides have been arrested; U.S. personnel are confined to base; outside power has been cut off; and while the U.S. has been permitted to resume operations over Iraq and Syria, it is working under adverse conditions, to say the least. Most worrisome, about 50 hydrogen bombs are stored by the U.S. at Incirlik, ostensibly on behalf of NATO. These bombs are "protected" by Turkish troops and to some degree their potential use is shared with the Turkish Air Force.

The deployment goes back more than 50 years, begun as an effort to counter the Soviet military buildup as an offset to quantitatively larger Soviet ground forces facing Europe. But by the mid-1980s the U.S. put more emphasis on "tactical" missiles, largely to counter the Soviet Union's deployment of SS-20's, a short to medium range missile with multiple, independently targeted warheads (MIRV) in the second and third versions of the SS-20. In 1987 the Intermediate and Short-range Missile Nuclear Treaty (INF) was signed and the Russians and the U.S. began removing their missiles. By 1991, all the missiles of concern on both sides were eliminated.

[Elsie]

Well; you couldn’t see much.

Quite similar to the airport scanners that show... something.

[T-Bone Texan]

You have insight that others do not. Please fill us in:

How safe are the nukes if we get in a small firefight with the Turks?

Could we defend them for a day with small arms?

Can you describe security features of the bunkers?

Can you give a physical description of the bunkers that they reside in?

[Jay Thomas]

It’s been a long time. I don’t know the protocols used today. Back then the security forces and our teams were always armed when near any weapons.

Even if I knew the details, I wouldn’t say them here, for obvious reasons.

[Mark17]

It wasn't radios, it was the landline. I took radar hand offs from this one guy, every day for months on end, so I recognized his voice when I got to Laughlin, in Del Rio, by golly Texas. I knew two guys who worked at Paddy, one at Panama and the one at Paris. I couldn't remember Pyramid or Waterboy.
I think, at the time, some of the busiest airports in the world, were in Vietnam. I never had so many airplanes coming at me in my whole career, as I did in Nam. It was a nightmare.

[GOPJ]

True... but the last thing we need is for ISIS to get their hands on tactical nukes. There’s NO REASON to store these weapons in the ME .. or for that matter ANYWHERE other than the US. If you think otherwise let me know your logic..