Posted on 02/23/2010 10:02:56 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The United States has informally told Japan it will retire its sea-based Tomahawk cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads, in line with President Barack Obama's policy to pursue a world free of atomic weapons, government sources said Monday.
Washington said the move would not affect the nuclear umbrella, addressing concerns in Tokyo about the step's effect on U.S. deterrence against potential attacks from China, North Korea or other countries, the sources said.
The retirement will probably be stipulated in the Nuclear Posture Review, a new nuclear strategic guideline the Obama administration is slated to submit to Congress next month, they said.
U.S. subs carrying nuclear-tipped Tomahawks called in Japan during the Cold War, but the missiles were later removed for storage at bases on the U.S. mainland.
Their retirement will also likely affect debate in Japan over Tokyo's ongoing investigation into a secret pact with Washington to allow the U.S. military to bring nuclear weapons to Japan, because decommissioning will rule out the possibility of nuclear missiles coming into the country.
Past port calls and passage through Japanese waters by submarines armed with Tomahawks have raised controversy in terms of Tokyo's three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear arms on its territory
(Excerpt) Read more at search.japantimes.co.jp ...
They should be retired to Mecca, Medina and Qom.
this fraud can’t be removed soon enough.
This is such a horrible decision.
And, in return, The Obammunist received what in return from his comrades the Rooskies?
yitbos
Yeah. /sarc That “world free of atomic weapons” will do a lot of good in Iran and North Korea.
What is this communist smoking?
this marxist SOB would unilaterally disarm the US if he wasn’t stopped.
The favorable image of Iran, China, Venezuela, Russia, etc. ROTFLTAO.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2458037/posts
Since per the above thread, there is apparently a ‘war’ just breaking out over who has the president’s ‘ear’. I can’t wait to see who the ‘gravitas’ is behind this program.
Hell, there’s enough of them that we could “retire” quite a few more Islamic locations.
I thought nuclear capable Tomahawks were eliminated with the IRBM treaty Reagan signed that also got rid of the Pershing II.
I didn’t know there were nuclear capable Tomahawks anymore.
“would?”....seems he IS....
They have them on naval ships and attack submarines.
The treaty was with Russia correct? Maybe then it only applied to the European theater.
Is this what the subs carry? I sure hope he’s not disarming our second strike deterrent.
You are correct. It applied on Ground Launched Cruise missiles in Italy
On balance, so long as we still maintain the 14 boomers carrying on average 10 Tridents each (and those with multiple warheads), it’s still more than enough to take care of everyone we’d ever need to take care of, and then some. I’m not that concerned about letting an aging missile system expire.
“What is this communist smoking?”
Um, our freedom and national security?
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.