Posted on 07/01/2005 12:08:44 AM PDT by FairOpinion
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on Friday failed to stop the Energy Department from studying the feasibility of a "bunker buster" nuclear bomb the Bush administration is considering.
By a vote of 53-43, the Senate refused to delete $4 million in funds to study the experimental weapon that would penetrate the earth and explode to demolish buried enemy targets.
The funds were included in a bill that would fund Energy Department activities in the fiscal year starting on Oct. 1. A House of Representatives version of the bill does not contain funds to study the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator.
"We're talking about a study. What's the harm in getting the study?" asked Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, a Virginia Republican.
Democrats said it would send a dangerous signal to other countries that the United States was headed toward development of a new class of nuclear weapons, thus encouraging them to develop their own arsenal.
"What moral authority do we have to ask others to give up their nukes if we're determined to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons of our own?" asked Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat.
Besides the $4 million for the Energy Department study, the administration has asked Congress for $4.5 million to fund Pentagon research into the bunker buster. The Pentagon funding was not included in House legislation and the Senate has not yet considered it.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), a California Democrat, cited scientists' beliefs that a bunker buster, if ever used, would spread deadly radiation.
"There is no way you can drive a missile casing deep enough to prevent radioactive spewing," Feinstein said.
The Pentagon has estimated that 70 countries are trying to protect key military assets, such as weapons of mass destruction or command and control facilities, from aerial bombing by hiding them in deep underground bunkers.
The fate of the Energy Department's bunker-buster study will be in the hands of House and Senate negotiators on this funding bill.
I read that you NEED nuclear bunker busters, because the enemy puts their nuclear and bio/chemical weapons development deep underground. I guess the Dems don't want us to be able to stop that, they rather if we sit here naked and wait until the terrorists and terrorist nations finish their development of WMD and attack us with it.
Ahhhhhh... how I never, ever get tired of seeing those words used in the same sentence. :)
"There is no way you can drive a missile casing deep enough to prevent radioactive spewing," Feinstein said.
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LMAO
Well, if there is one thing DiFi and her cohort from California know about, it's spewing, that's for sure.
Democrats consistantly demonstrate they can never be trusted for our national security.
I guess she prefers that the enemy succeeds in developing nukes and let the radiation spread right here in the US,
Once again, she is more worried about our enemies, than her constituents.
In a metaphysical sense: our enemies ARE her constituents. :)
Iran is secretly negotiating with North Korea to build a network of underground bunkers to conceal its clandestine nuclear weapons project.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1421148/posts
"There is no way you can drive a missile casing deep enough to prevent radioactive spewing," Feinstein said.
What is it now? About $165,000/yr plus perts and per diem?
Well, I guess it's the price one has to pay for representation from those with a higher IQ so we can live in peace knowing their intellect is omnipresent. /s
"By a vote of 53-43"
So who were the two Republicans who didn't vote with the rest of the Republicans?
We have 55 R Senators, so why don't we have at least 55 votes FOR the weapon development?
Two were probably absent during the vote.
We have 55 R Senators, so why don't we have at least 55 votes FOR the weapon development?
Absentees.
Good news.
It's simple Teddy. Put down your beer mug and read this. We are extremely responsible in the way that we store our nukes and in the very stringent procedures that govern the possible use of these weapons. Terror-sponsoring states like Iran, on the other hand, are wildy irresponsible and have a significant probability of providing nuclear weapons to terrorist groups or even launching a sneak attack on their own. That's why we have the moral authority to develop new weaopns while demanding irresponsible regimes to not develop their own weapons. It's just like here in America where responsible military units are allowed to own heavy artillery weapons while inner-city gangs are prevented by law from owning these weapons.
Don't try to put American on the same moral plane as Iran, North Korea, and Pol Pot. That's the same mistake that stupid Durbin made.
Speak for yourself Ted!
We'll either develop and stage nuclear bunker busters, or we'll use cratering nukes for the same purpose when the time comes for their necessity. ...one or the other. Nuclear bunker busters would be much less hazardous and easier to clean up.
The Dems can take solace in the fact that one of theirs can hand over the plans for the weapon to our enemies, just like they did in the 50's with nuclear weapons.
The dems would have us all vaporized if they had their way.
I am willing to bet on the RAT side Kerry wasn't there.
My guess is that even nuclear technology has changed since the Korean War era. The nuclear component of the new weapons would be fairly ordinary but the trick is to get this device hundreds of meters into the earth before detonation.
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