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US Sold Bunker-Busting Bombs to Israel: Report
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama secretly authorized the sale of 55 powerful bunker-busting bombs to Israel, Newsweek magazine reported Friday.
President Barack Obama released bunker-busting bombs to Israel in 2009, Newsweek reports (AFP/Navy Visual News/File, Felix Garza Jr.) Israel first asked to buy deep-penetrating GBU-28 bombs in 2005, but were rebuffed by then-president George W. Bush. At the time the Pentagon had frozen joint US-Israeli defense projects, fearful that Israel was transferring advanced military technology to China, Newsweek said.
However in 2007 Bush informed then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert that the bombs would be ready for delivery in 2009 or 2010, even though the Israelis wanted them immediately.
Obama released the bombs in 2009, the magazine reports, citing unnamed officials familiar with the still-secret decision.
Newsweek, citing unnamed US and Israeli officials, said in its online edition that Israel has developed its own bunker-buster technology, but that it was cheaper to buy the US weapons.
The 2,000-pound bombs are designed to destroy hardened targets, which could be used to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
The Pentagon declined to confirm or deny the report but press secretary George Little said "the United States remains committed to helping Israel provide for its own security and we remain committed to helping Israel maintain its qualitative military edge."
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71 Comments so far
Show AllSadly, this article is still true, and we are contributing to it.
Nuclear Bunker Buster Bombs Against Iran - This way lies madness
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2093
As pointed out in the article, you don't need a nuclear weapon to cause a nuclear disaster. Just destroy the controls and coolant pumps with a few well placed bombs.
Yeah, you are right they used them in Iraq, heaven knows why.
"the exporting from the United States of warlike instruments and military stores is not to be interfered with." G. Washington 1793
Nice find! Yes the nascent USA sought to make money by supplying all sides in the Napoleonic Wars. George thus made a mockery of his more well-known words from his Farewell Speech about entering into entagling alliances.
The duponts did exactly the same, and how they made their millions.
"business" is not an "alliance"
it's "only" business
We supply the weapons that could one day be turned against us, and usually is.
We have supplied weapons to Israelf or over 60 years, and I firmly believe they intend to use them against us anyone who stands in their way of being the number one over all. They already have control over the United States government.
In all likelihood, these weapons will be used by American supplied fighter jets to attack the Iranian nuclear facility.
Think Fukushima, but with a US supplied high explosive as the cause, not an earthquake.
Well, at least we sold them. Unlike just GIVING them $3 billion a year. They sure own DC.
You really think we sold them???
Double post removed,,, by me.
Yea we sold them. They bought them with the, what was it, 8 billion bush jr gave them before leaving office. Its been a while, so I'm betting that number is wrong and low.
perhaps we are discussing yet another scam here. taxpayers give foreign aid to a country which has strings, that weapons must be purchased, profits going into MIC coffers. I got an idea, lets as taxpayers just transfer funds directly into MIC coffers at least that way we won't be strewing these god-awful weapons around the world. think of it as yet another bailout.
ed
These weapons are illegal under the NPT, which is supposed to restrict proliferation. All the fuss about Iran which has no nuclear weapons and has signerd the NPT, unlike aggressive Israel which has lots of nuclear arms and uses violence constantly against civilians.
That's quite alright. Israel and the US are not signatories to the NPT. They demand that everybody does though. Wonder why?
Slow your roll rosemerry... they aren't Nuclear, they are conventional weapons.
Wrong, they are not covered by the NNPT. They are conventional weapons.
I am not an idiot, I check my facts before posting. Do you?
Conventional weapons DO include DU. DU is not covered under the NNPT because DU does not kill based on nuclear fission or fusion, it kills based on mass and density. Poisonous weapons are also not covered under the NNPT. You are entitled to your own opinion, not your own facts.
Anyway the GBU28 does NOT use DU. It uses a steel case more than an inch thick, in fact the first GBU28s were constructed from old artillery barrels packed with explosives. They weigh 4700 lbs and contain 630lbs of explosives (a very low proportion of explosive to case). They can penetrate 30 meters of dirt or 6 meters of reinforced concrete.
"DU does not kill based on nuclear fission or fusion, it kills based on mass and density..."
Incorrect. Depleted Uranium is used as a superhard penetrator to facilitate the effectiveness of high explosive anti-armor munitions.
In the process of impact and detonation the DU is flash heated to thousands of degrees and disintegrates into microscopic particles, which is then inhaled by survivors or bystanders.
This DU dust, which is still radioactive, then settles in the lungs, directly causing cancers which more often than not prove fatal, in addition to inducing mutagenic changes in the unfortunate host, which are then expressed as genetic defects (often crippling or fatal) in future offspring.
The entire country of Iraq now has a significantly detectable higher background radiation count due to the entire country being 'dusted' with DU released by the use of hundreds of thousands of US and Coalition DU tipped weapons. Do a bit of research to discover the exponential rise of radiation-induced congenital birth defects. The results (and many of the documentary pictures) will shock you.
The Geneva Conventions SPECIFICALLY forbid the use of radiological weapons, the conditions of which DU tipped munitions satisfies.
Galen, again, you are wrong. Again....
They are used as penetrators not because they are super hard, but because they have high mass and even in alloys DU is not particularly hard. As you know, energy is mass times velocity squared. Mass is all that you need, not hardness which in fact is more likely to shatter. If you have ever seen high velocity-high mass impacts, they are not cut, they are punched.
Your contention that the DU is flash heated to thousands of degrees and disintegrates is also wrong. Of DU munitions fired, approximately 96% of the original mass remains in one piece after penetration. Some does get lost and that certainly burns inside the tank or other hardened target and some of it does end up in the local atmosphere.
DU dust is an alpha emitter, not a gamma emitter and thus its radiation does not penetrate clothing or even a sheet of paper. It is however highly toxic if you breath it in and will cause lung and blood cancers. It is by no means safe, however it will not kill or damage most of the people that come in contact with it.
The birth defects are NOT proven to be related to DU although some undoubtedly are as uranium loves the phosphorous in DNA. What also is probably causing them is the release of all the other toxins in explosives which are hazards as well.
Your contention that the Geneva Conventions specifically forbid radiological weapons is again. Incorrect. (You really DO need to check your sources...) In 1996 the ICJ issued a specific ruling on DU weapons that stated the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Protocol *specifically* do not cover DU weapons. The ONLY legal finding that DU is a weapon of mass destruction was by the UNHRC whose work has been entirely voided by the UN.
At some point DU weapons might be illegal, but right now they are not and are specifically excluded from treaty by decisions of the UN.
All that is academic anyway since the GBU28 does NOT contain DU. At all. Some larger penetrating weapons do, but the GBU28 does not.
You really must lean to separate provable facts from opinion and desire. You make a habit of inventing "facts" Galen. As I stated earlier, you get to have your own opinion, not your own facts.
Yep, when a DU round is fired it begins to burn and when DU burns the ensuing smoke is filled with deadly, microscopic, radioactive particles which have a half life of 4.5 billion years.
Sold? I seriously doubt that. Israel buys absolutelhy nothing from the US. They either get it thru tax payers gifts (read as theft), they blackmail the US or simply steal it. And these two, the biggest purveyors of death in the world, are the ones crying crocodile tears at the UN claiming that they want peace with the Palestinians. Ha!
I agree. Hell, we give them $3 billion a year in military aid. Can we see an itemized list of what that buys? Maybe someone should post what $3 billion could buy in our country or in the name of good around the world.
It is just money laundering. The US government pays its annual $3,000,000,000,000 tribute to its Likud masters. A portion of this is given to the MICC as "weapons purchases" another portion to the Senate and House (as campaign contributions) and the remainder is banked by Likud to do with as it pleases.
If I remember right, when the IDF last went into Lebanon, they shot off most of their arsenal so the US gave them an "emergency" tribute and sent them weapons from our own massive arsenal.
You might call it "honor" among thieves.
minitrue,
thank you...
{"honor" among thieves}
or respect amongst gang members in the hood.
- - - - - - - - - -
http://www.rense.com/general77/truman.htm
{August 14, 1947, Geneva. The UN Special Subcom-mittee on Palestine returned to Geneva after a seven-day tour of DP camps in Austria and Germany. The tour took the group to Munich, Vienna, Berlin and Hamburg. In Berlin it heard reports August 13 from General Lucius D. Clay, US. Military Governor. Clay testified that anti-Semitism is growing very sharply among the ranks of the US. military units in the US. Zones of Austria and Germany because of the violent, asocial and criminal behavior of the Eastern European DPs, all of whom are Jewish. He recommended that these DPs be allowed to enter Palestine before some incident with American sol-diers, who have been beaten, robbed and killed by Jewish DPs, leads to severe spontaneous reactions on the part of other soldiers. His views were seconded very strongly by Sir Brian Robertson, Deputy British Military Governor."}
{April 9, 1948 , Washington The US. Department of State refused to lift its embargo on arms shipments to the Middle East
April 9, 1948 , Jerusalem. Irgun and Stern gang terrorists stormed an Arab suburb of Jerusalem, Dir Yashin, killing 250 Arabs, half of them women and children.
September 17, 1948 , Jerusalem. Angered by his order to readmit 8,000 Arab refugees driven from three villages near Haifa by attacks of Jewish terrorists, the Stern gang assassinated Count Folke Bernadotte, UN mediator for Palestine. Also killed in the attack was French Col. Andre Serot, chief of France's 100-man contingent in the unarmed UN truce-observer team.}
- - - - - - - - - -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_bomb
{- Zionist terrorist group the Stern Gang were the first group to use car bombs in Palestine.
- During the Soviet-Afghan war, at a variety of training camps in the tribal areas of Pakistan,[6] the Pakistani ISI with the aid of the CIA trained mujahadin in the preparation of car bombs. Car bombs became a regular occurrence during the war, the Afghan civil conflicts which followed, and then during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.}
- - - - - - - - - -
finally, just to confirm we're talking about gangs here - just google cia/mossad to see the broad range of perspectives (over 4 million hits) about the relationship b/w these two organized rackets. these gangs have free reign to murder anyone, anywhere in the world, with the blessings and implicit endorsements of the MSM. gotta love it. i'm certain orwell and kafka would both appreciate the fucked up reality known as september 2011. we live w/in the belly of a fascist global empire.
- - - - - - -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
- - - - - - -
...peace...
Does anyone here recognize DU? Zionist pigs are sucking your future dry my friends. So they are or aren't nuclear? Oh my God...is that your issue? Well, here, I'll drop one in your neighborhood.
~~Stonepig~~ The use of DU weaponry is not a war crime,,, it is a crime against all of humanity and the planet Earth... I have not heard Du use is illegal, it damn sure should be.
The_ GBU-28 _ bunker buster bombs (are not) DU bombs...Those bombs are consturcted using 8 inch artillery cannon barrels as casings... The bomb weighs over two tons but holds only 647 lbs of high explosives... They are laser-guided bombs and are very effective against bunkers or steel reinforced concrete buildings.
The much larger 25,000 pound Big Blue bunker buster bomb is reported to be a DU bomb... Fighter or bomber aircraft cannot carry one of them due to size and or weight... B-52,, B-1,, or B-2 bomb bays aren't large enough in diameter to hold one...They are dropped by cargo aircraft,,, C-130s,, C-141s,, or C-17s. .
"Well, here, I'll drop one in your neighborhood."
Well it wouldn't be pleasant, but unless you dropped it on my house directly or the neighbor's maybe, it wouldn't do much more than rattle dishes and break windows. The bomb you are complaining about only has 630lbs of conventional explosives which is not that much in the world of bombs and is designed to explode 100 feet underground which is really really deep. They are building a tunnel near me and they used much more explosive than that every day at the beginning.
~~JohnShade~~ What are you talking about?
I am not "complaing" about anything at all.... I explained how the bunker buster bombs sold or given to Isreal are made and that they don't contain any DU and they are extremely effective in destroying deep underground bunkers and steel reinforced concrete buildings.
Btw John,,, it is clearly obvious that you don't know anything at all about high explosieves... Have you ever seen what a 750 pound iron bomb can do when it explodes? A 750 pound bomb has far less explosives than these bunker buster bombs... Your comments make no sense at all on that reply to me...None!
Let me see. We give zionists billions of dollars. We, like a bunch of crooks(that we are) hiding in the dark and behind closed doors, secretly sell zionists these 'special bunker buster' bombs after the military apparently went ahead with the deal. Does that mean zionists will give our free money to to them, back to the u.s. as payment? I'm not holding my breath on that at all.
I can see this happening. The next nuclear attack will be zionist izrael nuking Iran and getting the 'free pass' the u.s. got when we nuked japan. Neither were or are necessary, unless another pearl harbor just happens to occur yet again. Criminality just rolls off the backs of u.s. and zionist izrael like wate off a ducks back.
Geez this country and zionist izrael are the 2 worst countries or worst led countries on the planet. I am jealous of the future children who will get to see the very end of these piece of shit countries. It may not happen this century but IT WILL HAPPEN.
Once again, Oblahblah out-Dubyas Dubya.
Is there any reason why Iran should not be able to take this to the UN as a hostile act...an act of war...against it by the US? Well, other than that the UN is wholly owned and operated by the US.
That's one reason. Another is that Iran doesn't want to give the USA legal permission to nuke it to bits, something just about everyone inside the Beltway is just champing at the bit to do.
Remember, we've offered Iran several reasons to declare war against us: we sponsor the terrorist MEK to conduct bombings and assassinations inside their country; we've shot down one of their civilian aircraft (over their own territory too!); we regularly harass Iranian vessels in the Persian Gulf. But Iran is prudent enough not to take the bait. Despite what the bobbleheads on the teevee say, Iranians have no desire to be martyrs.
I don't follow how going to the UN would give the US legal permission to nuke them. Anyhow, we don't need any damn legal permission.
I wasn't referring to the act of going to the UN per se, but to the act of declaring that the USA had committed an act of war against them.
True, I've watched and admired their restraint.
One day we will be remembered as another Germany of 1933-1945.
Just what they need. Bunker busters to create more havoc...Military approaches to problems have always baffled me.......
A little comic relief from the CBC ...Well it would be funny if it were not true,,,,
Regarding submarine pruchases from the UK in 2000..(A billion dollars for four old British subs..I can only wish that I were the salesman......
"The government bought the British submarines on the navy's recommendation. The navy is defending the billion dollar plus submarine program saying the boats are vital to the defence of Canada even though none at the moment are capable of firing torpedoes, submerging or even venturing out to sea." (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.....)
I rest my case Your Honour,
Thomas Gilbert-
"The navy is defending the billion dollar plus submarine program saying the boats are vital to the defence of Canada even though none at the moment are capable of firing torpedoes, submerging or even venturing out to sea."
That is sort of funny....
~~John Shade~~ could you please cite a reference that would explain those incredible comments?
John,
Well I guess nobody has to worry about being attacked by the Royal Canadian Navy's submarine fleet anytime in the near future.....
Thomas Gilbert-
RE: "Obama secretly authorized the sale of 55 powerful bunker-busting bombs to Israel" ~ AFP article* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE CHURCH LADY SEZ: “Well, isn't that SPE-CIAL?.........................................
P.S. Of course, that's not going to stop Netanyahu & Co. from conspiring with the Republicans to undermine Obama and the Democrats in next year's elections.
Does anyone believe we (only) give Isreal just three billion a year for military aid? __ Three billion is peanuts to our Pentagon.
Remember when Rumsfeld acknowledged that the Pentagon budget was missing several trillion dollars? __ We have never heard where that missing cash was located.
that's because the auditing office was blown up the day after the announcement.
Interesting that as I've read this thread and the Fisk thread on Israel's and Obama's self-destructive behavior, both Fox TV and PBS are showing Holocaust movies involving the black and white stripes of the concentration camps.
Israel has been playing the "martyrdom" card for far too long, esp. in light of the last graf of the article here:
"The Pentagon declined to confirm or deny the report but press secretary George Little said "the United States remains committed to helping Israel provide for its own security and we remain committed to helping Israel maintain its qualitative military edge." "
To hear both Obama and NetanYAHOO (both Ivy-League TRAINED) play the Holocaust card before the United Nations in opposing Palestinian Statehood EXCEPT AS TO BE DEFINED BY ISRAEL is truly sickening. Negotiations? Arafat sought "negotiations," before the disastrous division of the West Bank and Gaza, and look what happened to him!
I suspect another globally interested local conflagration soon, perhaps in Lebanon, which used to be a Mideast banking center. And the U.S. will keep up pressure on Syria, due to its Ba'athist socialism. But, uh, they are ruled by a dictator.
It's all so 1984. Go shopping.
-30-
~~rosemerry~~... I didn't know bunker buster bombs were illegal... They aren't nuclear or DU bombs... See my prior post in reply to Stonepig.
It has been rumored for many years that Israel is the seventh country in the world to have developed nuclear weapons and to be one of four nuclear-armed countries not recognized as a Nuclear Weapons State by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)... The others being India, Pakistan and North Korea.
South Africa developed nuclear weapons but dismanteled all of it's nclear weapons before signing with the NPT... It is believed by the CIA that Isreal has 400 nuclear weapons... For self defense of course.
Well, this blows Obama's entire speech at the UN out of the water. These are not the actions of an honest peace broker. America should remove herself from any Peace Negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.
"America should remove herself from any Peace Negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. "
I would think that one through if I were you. If there are no negotiations, there is ABSOLUTELY no chance for peace even if the chance is mighty slim *with* negotiations.
Israel is hateful in most if not all regards, but if there were a war, she would win and the cost to the Arabs would be catastrophic. Cataclysmic. And that assumes no nuclear weapons.
If you want peace, really want peace, then it has to be through negotiation and not arms. At this time there are no modern Arab armies or air forces, with the possible exception of Egypt and the tanks we sold to them do NOT have the DU armor so are vulnerable to Israeli anti-tank munitions while the Israeli tanks are NOT vulnerable to Egyptian munitions. When there *were* modern Arab armies, they got their heads handed to them on a platter, the results today would be of a scale of death that may only have been approached by the Highway of Death leading north from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War.
During the 1973 war, the Arabs lost 18,000 dead to 2500 Israeli dead. They lost 2300 tanks to 400. They lost 19 ships to 0 Israeli ships. They lost 500 aircraft to 106 Israeli aircraft.
As for the air, remember that the last time there was an air war between Arabs and Isrealis, the Arab to Israeli loss ratio was 86 to 0.And the Isrealis took out EVERY anti-aircraft missile battery in southern Syria in one single attack in less than an hour.
Think about the number of people that would be killed in a conflict without nuclear weapons if there is not going to be a peaceful compromise. Peace is only achievable through negotiation no matter how hard or long those negotiations are. Let's not be another generation that has to learn what a real ground war in the ME is like.
Israel will not allow peace in Palestine until every last Palestinian has been "ethnically cleansed" from the territory that Israel wants.
Your entire post is a joke - an very unfunny one.
q