Posted on 05/11/2010 9:09:10 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Unseen beyond the grazing Holsteins and rolling pastures of eastern Belgium, the 12-foot-long tapered metal cylinders sit in their underground vaults, waiting for the doomsday call that never came. Each packs the power of many Hiroshimas.
America's oldest nuclear weapons -- unwanted, outdated, a legacy of the 20th century -- are now the focus of a political struggle that could shake the NATO alliance in the 21st.
The questions hanging over the B-61 bombs, an estimated 200 of them on six air bases across Europe, relate to not just why they're still here but how safe and secure they are.
For one thing, al Qaeda terrorists already have targeted this Belgian air base 52 miles northeast of Brussels. For another, U.S. Air Force inspectors found inadequate security at most of the six sites. And three months ago a "bombspotter" team, anti-nuclear activists, penetrated nearly a half-mile inside Kleine Brogel, reaching its innermost bunkers.
"It was a shock," Theo Kelchtermans, mayor of the neighboring town of Peer, said of the protesters' infiltration, which went unchallenged for an hour. His bottom line: "I hope these bombs will disappear."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
More classified than the true Obama birth certificate?
I dont know about that.
Yeah, me neither! ;^P
I got to go. I have a lot on my plate tomorrow. Thanks for the conversation.
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