BUNKER-BUSTER DEBUNKER. . . . John Kerry seems to misfire..

Kerry Spot BUNKER-BUSTER DEBUNKER. . . . John Kerry seems to misfire.. . . . 06/02 09:04 AM

The presidential campaign focused on containing nuclear weapons Tuesday, as President Bush touted his Proliferation Security Initiative and Senator Kerry outlined his plans to keep nukes out of the hands of terrorists. The clearest distinction between the two candidates is their perspective on whether America needs "bunker-buster" nuclear weapons.

The lesson the rest of the world took from the first Persian Gulf war was that the U.S. military can target any site, anytime, anywhere — provided it is above ground. Beyond several stories, even tomahawk missiles and laser-guided bombs cannot hit a target beneath hundreds of feet of rock.

America's friends and foes alike took notes and adapted. There are currently more than 10,000 underground military facilities in more than 70 countries, including more than 1,000 underground facilities on both sides along the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Pentagon reports estimate that more than 1,400 underground sites are known or suspected to be sheltering weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missiles, or military commands.

DEFINITE DIFFERENCES The Bush administration's response to this new challenge is to research upgrading the only existing earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, the 1,200-pound B61-11 gravity bomb, which has an adjustable yield of from 1 to 300 kilotons and has been in service since 1997. But it can currently only penetrate 15 to 25 feet underground.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has spent $22 million on studying the ability to improve the bomb's penetrating power over the last two years.

By a mostly party-line vote of 214-204, the House last month supported spending $7.5 million on research into a new nuclear "bunker buster," the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator.

Kerry said Tuesday, "As president, I will stop this administration's program to develop a whole new generation of bunker-busting nuclear bombs. This is a weapon we don't need. And it undermines our credibility in persuading other nations. What kind of message does it send when we're asking other countries not to develop nuclear weapons, but developing new ones ourselves?"

On the campaign trail, Kerry has repeatedly suggested that the Pentagon's research into bunker busters threatens to start a new arms race. His fellow Massachusetts Democrat and arms-control enthusiast, Rep. Ed Markey, spelled out the logic behind the bunker-buster anxiety.

"Can you imagine on the first day of Shock and Awe if we had dropped a nuclear bunker buster in the middle of Baghdad to get Saddam Hussein, and he was not in the command bunker, he was not there at all?" Markey asked from the floor of the House, thoroughly throttling the straw man before him.

"It is an unusable weapon," Markey continued. "We cannot preach temperance from a bar stool; you cannot tell a kid not to smoke while holding a Camel cigarette in your hand."

MILITARY VS. KERRY But a slew of military brass disagrees with Kerry's assessment that bunker busters aren't needed.

The commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Adm. James Ellis, stated recently that a military requirement does exist for the study of these kinds of weapons, traced back 10 years to the Clinton administration when STRATCOM and the Air Combat Command both issued a mission needs statement for a method to defeat these hardened and buried targets. Since then, the Quadrennial Defense Review, the Nuclear Posture Review, the Defense Science Board, and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have all identified a need for study to go forward.

Gen. Richard Myers, in a May 2003 briefing, explained that a nuclear bunker buster could minimize the threat from biological or chemical weapons at an enemy site.

POLITICAL FALLOUT A well-placed Washington Republican sees Kerry's stance on bunker busters as a political miscalculation, a move that will not add a single vote to his total, while giving Bush another way to paint him as weak on defense. He also notes that Kerry missed four Senate votes on the topic in 2003.

Beyond pledging to drop a bunker buster on new technology, Kerry's speech Tuesday was nothing much more than a promise he will do everything Bush is doing, but be better at it: "more, better, faster." Instead of taking 13 years to secure potential bomb material in the former Soviet Union, Kerry promises to do it in four. He promised to tear down "bureaucratic walls" delaying action in Russia. He said we "must make rigorous inspection protocols mandatory, and refocus the mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency to stop the spread of nuclear weapons material." Invigorating original and detailed suggestions, all.

On the issue of Iran's nuclear program, Kerry said, "We should call their bluff, and organize a group of states that will offer the nuclear fuel they need for peaceful purposes and take back the spent fuel so they can't divert it to build a weapon. If Iran does not accept this, their true motivations will be clear." (Is he the last person in the world to not realize their motives?) But Kerry didn't say what would happen once those motivations were clear.

The Democratic senator had the unfortunate timing to insist he would do a better job working "with every country to tighten export controls, stiffen penalties, and beef up law enforcement and intelligence sharing" on the day Russia announced it had become the 15th core member of Bush's Proliferation Security Initiative, which is supported by more than 60 countries. Bush credits the PSI with leading to "the unraveling of A. Q. Khan's nuclear network," which showed its "potential to end a program that threatens us all."

JOHN KERRY HAS NOT HEARD YET HIS BROTHERS DON'T LIKE HIM.

SWIFTBOAT VETERANS TELL JOHN F KERRY YOU ARE NOT PRESIDENT MATERIAL

Swift boat veterans who support John F Kerry for President

http://images6.fotki.com/v83/photos/1/106521/398438/KERRYForFotki2-vi.jpg

Senator Kerry

We write from our common heritage as veterans of duty aboard Swift Boats in the Vietnam War. Indeed, you should note that a substantial number of those men who served directly with you during your four month tour in Vietnam have signed this letter.

It is our collective judgment that, upon your return from Vietnam, you grossly and knowingly distorted the conduct of the American soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen of that war (including a betrayal of many of us, without regard for the danger your actions caused us). Further, we believe that you have withheld and/or distorted material facts as to your own conduct in this war. Your conduct is such as to raise substantive concerns as to your honesty and your ability to serve, as you currently seek, as Commander-in-Chief of the military services.

It is vital that the American public have as much information as possible about candidates for President of the United States. In various ways, you have rightly called upon President Bush to be fully accountable and to provide full disclosure. In the same spirit, now that you are the presumptive nominee of your Party, we believe it is incumbent upon you to make your total military record open to the American people.

Specifically, we the undersigned formally request that you authorize the Department of the Navy to independently release your military records (through your execution of Standard Form 180), complete and unaltered, including your military medical records. Further, we call upon you to correct the misconceptions your campaign seeks to create as to your conduct while in Vietnam. Permit the American public the opportunity to assess your military performance upon the record, and not upon campaign rhetoric.

Senator Kerry, we were there. We know the truth. We have been silent long enough. The stakes are too great, not only for America in general but, most importantly, for those who have followed us into service in Iraq and Afghanistan. We call upon you to provide a full, accurate accounting of your conduct in Vietnam.

Respectfully

http://www.swiftvets.com/Index2.htm

THE SIGNERS Roy Alexander Kenneth J. Andrews, Lt. Dan V. Armstrong, BM2 Ray Lewis Ballew Alexander Bass George “M.” Bates Richard Beers Paul L. Bennett, Cdr., USN Edward J. “Lord Mort” Bergin, Capt., USNR Ret. Henry “Buddy” Berman, QM2 Barry Bogart, EN2 Bob Bolger Cdr., USN Ret. M.T. Boone David Borden Vern Boyd David M. Bradley, LCdr. Robert “Friar Tuck” Brant, Cdr. USN (Ret.) Kenneth Briggs Carlyle J. Brown , EN2 Kenneth “Buck” Buckholz, GMM3 Michael C. Burton Joe Cahill, Jr., Lt. Jack L. Carlson, Lt., USNR Billy Carwile, EN3 Jack Chenoweth William Colgan, RD3 Bill Collins Daniel K. Corbett, Lt., USNR James M. Corrigan, QM3 Terry Costello John H. Davis, Lt. William K. Daybert, Cdr. James Deal John Dooley, Cdr., USN, Ret. Dale Duffield , BM1, USN, Ret. Robert G. Elder, Lt. George M. Elliott, Capt. USNR, Ret. Wallace Benjamin Foreman, QM1, USN, Ret. William T. Ferris, Capt. USNR, Ret. William E. Franke, LT.jg Robert L. Franson, BMCS (SW) Alfred J. French, III, Capt., JAGC, USNR, Ret. Paul F. Fulcomer, RD3 Ray Fuller, GMG3 Steve Fulton, Cdr., USN, Ret. Mike Gann, Capt., USNR, Ret. Steve Gardner Bill Garlow Les Garrett Tony Gisclair Robert Gnau, QM2 Donald Goldberg Morton Golde, Cdr. USN, Ret. Kenneth Golden Gerald L. Good, Lt. USN John C. Graves Charles E. Green, ENCM, USN Ret. Dennis L. Green, GMG H.C. Griffin, Jr., Lt. USNR I.B.S. (Boyd) Groves, Jr. Charles R. Grutzius, Capt. USNR, Ret. F.L. Skip “Mustang Sally” Gunther, Lt. USN Bill Halpin, Lt. USNR, Ret. Don C. Hammer, Lt. Rock Harmon Keith C. Harris, RD2 Stewart M. Harris, Lt., USN Gene Hart, RD3 Bob Hastings Curt Hatler John Hecker , RD3 Chuck Herman, RD3 Raul Herrera Tom Herritage Grant (Skip) Hibbard Rocky Hildreth Roy Hoffmann, Adm., USN, Ret. William P. Holden, Capt., USN Ret. Wayland Holloway, Lt. USNR Robert Hooke, Lt. Andy Horne John Howell Warren Hudson Charles W. Hunt, EN3 Robert Hunt Gail E. “Ike” Ikerd, Cdr. Ret. John Paul Jones, QM3 Tom Jones Eddie Kajioka ENCS, USN Ret. John L. Kipp, Cdr., USN, Ret. Thomas H. Klemash Kenneth Knipple, EN1 Robert Koger, QM2 Mike Kovanen, RD3 Bob Kreyer, GMG2 Jack K. Lane, GMG3 William T. Langham William Lannom Joseph R. Lavoie, II CWO2 (BOSN), USN Ret. Louis Letson, LCdr., USN, Ret. Jim Madden, RD3 William S. Mann, Jr., LT.jg Jim Marohn, GMG3 Douglas Martin, Lt. USNR Tom Mason, Lt. Donald Matras, EN2 Ret. Thomas Mason, Lt. Louis Masterson Richard McFarland, Lt. USNR Kenneth B. McGhee James McNeal, ENC Larry Meyer Jack Merkley, Lt. James M. Miller Martin Miller, ENC, Ret. Marc Milligan, GMG2 Benjamin A. Montoya, QM3 Bub Morgan, LT.jg Edgar (Ed) M. Morrill, Jr. Tom Morrill, EN3 Wayne H. Moser Kurt Moss, Lt. J.G. Frank Mueller Marc Mulligan, GMG2 Ed Mundy Richard Olsen, Lt. John O’Neill Albert Owens Tedd Peck, Capt. USNR, Ret. Robert Phalen, GMG2 Joseph L. Ponder, GMG-2, USN Ret. Charles Plumley Chuck Rabel Bill Rogers , Lt. Jennings Rogerson II, Capt. USMC Ret. Patrick Sage GMG3 Gary W. Sallee, BM2 Joe Sandoval, GMG3 Jimmy W. Sanford, RD3 Robert “Bob” Sattergood Jim Schneider, EN2 Clair J. (Pete) Schrodt, Capt. USN, Ret. Jack Shamley Patrick Sheedy, Cdr., USN, Ret. Paul Shepherd, QM2 Robert B. Shirley, Lt.jg William Shumadine Stanley G. Simonson, GMG2 Darryl Skuce, GMG2 John J. Skura Gerald H. Smith Roy Smith B. Tony Snesko BM2 Mike Solhaug Jack Spratt, LCDR Stirlin Harris, BM2 Fred E. Stith, USN, (Ret.) David R. Stefferud, Capt., USN Ret. James Steffes Lawrence Stoneberg, Lt. USN Ret. Weymouth Symmes W.P. (Sonny) Taylor James P. Thomas Eldon Thompson, LT.jg Charles R. Tinstman, ENC Gary E. Townsend William F. Trainer Michael Turley, BM2 Chris J. Vedborg, RD3 Jeffrey M. Wainscott, LT. jg David Wallace Greg Ward, EN2 Larry J. “Waz” Wasikowski, Cdr. U.S. Naval Reserve Pete Webster Robert T. Wedge, Jr., QM1, USN Ret. Steven Weekley, GMG, QM3 George H. White, II R. Shelton White, Lt. Gary K. Whittington, EN3 James D. Wiggins Dennis D. Willess, EN3 Thomas A. Withey, Lt. Barnard Wolff Thomas W. Wright , Cdr., USN Ret. John Wyatt, GMG John Yeoman, Lt. Ex Officio: Verne DeWitt David P. Marion , CPT Infantry, US Army Benjamin A. Montoya, QM3 Cordelia Ogrinz, in memory of her brother Alexander J. Ogrinz, III, Lt. Rex Rectanus, VADM, USN, Ret. Skip Ridley Emmett Tidd James M. Zumwalt in memory of Elmo Zumwalt, Sr. and Elmo Zumwalt, Jr, his father and brother http://www.swiftvets.com/Index2.htm

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