Posted on 10/24/2019 1:52:43 AM PDT by Kaslin
There are about 5,000 members of the U.S. military, mostly airmen, stationed at the huge, strategically located air base in Incirlik, Turkey, northwest of the Syrian border.
The American forces at Incirlik are also the custodians of about 50 B61 nuclear bombs. Data on these weapons is classified, but at their maximum yield each is 10 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, according to Stars and Stripes.
It's a "Dr. Strangelove" scenario: No one quite knows how the American contingent could manage to secretly remove the deadly nukes from their concrete vaults, bring them out to the tarmac, load them on planes and fly them out safely over Turkish objections.
Turkey in the past has threatened to go nuclear itself should the U.S. ever dare to transfer the lethal arsenal. Apparently, Turkey's theory is that possession of bombs in one's territory is 9/10ths of the law of nuclear weapons ownership.
In the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, which led to a U.S. arms embargo, Turkey shut down all U.S. operations at Incirlik. American forces were expelled for three years -- until Washington caved and resumed arms supplies.
In 2016, Turkey cut off power to the base and forbid U.S. flights, fearing that the dissident Turkish generals of a failed coup attempt might use the American facility as a sanctuary.
Under Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has become NATO's only non-democratic nation. It's also NATO's only Muslim-majority member. Erdogan has been trying to re-create Turkey as a new Ottoman imperial power. He feels no allegiance to Western-style democracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
I would think they’d have the ability to destroy them. Without setting them off, of course.
Even with the mechanisms destroyed, that’s still a lot of weapons grade plutonium that could be used to make new bombs.
Only thing that would work would be packing them in thermite and burning the plutonium. Of course, that would make the surrounding area a radioactive wasteland worse than Chernobyl.
The bigger question is: Are they actually there?
I was at Incirlik too. I hated the place. I never considered Turkey to be our ally.
Couldn’t they remove the plutonium and send it back to the U.S., then destroy what’s left of the bombs?
Why is Turkey in NATO?
Probably far easier to move the bombs intact...
Because the Deep States on both sides of The Pond wanted it in.
It is incomprehensible that Trump continues to treat him like a respected friend of the USA.
I think it’s totally comprehensible. It’s like a hostage negotiator.
Hopefully Trump is doing the diplomatic equivalent of saying “nice doggie!” to a snarling mutt that has suddenly appeared, while looking for a rock.
But, that's my main point - this is not sudden.
Erdogan staged a fake coup d’état when Obama was still president.
The mass refugee crisis in Europe was started by Erdogan. He did not stop it until Europe (mainly Germany) agreed to pay him billions of Euros.
This man has been a dangerous enemy for many years.
America has a long sad history of accepting snakes into the fold—Saudia Arabia, communist China are examples. Make it clear who is our friend—Israel, Taiwan, kick Turkey out of NATO.
No arguments. I think we should have decamped from Turkey when they wouldn’t allow us to stage OIF from there in 2003. The handwriting was on the wall then. And I saw a talk from a journalist who barely got himself and his family out with their lives about 3-4 years ago, when Erdogan completely took over any independent media outlets. Very eye open, a view into what real tyranny looks like. They have no business in NATO or the EU.
But Trump has been distracted by the ongoing soft coup, I’ll give him a pass for not having extracted our forces after less than 3 years.
That 2003 spat should have been reason enough to create a Kurdistan in Northern Iraq
But State department critters and communists are always around to make sure we make the worst of friends such as Sauds and Bahamians and abandon the best such as Iranians or Cubans
Under Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has become NATO’s only non-democratic nation. It’s also NATO’s only Muslim-majority member.
Swapping him for a different dictator would be complicated. Getting a moderate elected there is unlikely considering the religion and history.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.