- Six out of 10 Americans think it would be OK to nuke
Iraq. And the president wants the option to use H-bombs preemptively in
the war on terror. So what would be the Armageddon punch of choice for
the Butcher of Baghdad and a million or so people standing too close to
him?
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- Since The Washington Post spoke for the people on deployment
of nukes, it would be good for some people to know that the go-to bomb
would be the B-61-one of the nightmare weapons of the thermonuclear armory.
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- Also affectionately known as the "burrowing bomb,"
the newest edition of the B-61, called the Mk-11, was developed just for
use against non-nuclear third-world patsy-tyrants who have heard the call
of "Dig we must," and buried themselves and their alleged caches
of biological and chemical weapons deep underground.
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- Built ram tough with a heavy metal casing for smashing
through earth and concrete, the B-61 explodes with the force of an estimated
340,000 tons of TNT. It is lots of bang for the buck, literally two apocalypse
bombs in one-a boosted plutonium firecracker called the primary, and a
heavy hydrogen secondary for that good old-fashioned H-bomb fireball. The
B-61 also features a detonation option called the Dial-a-Yield for those
times when 340 kilotons is just a little too much.
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- To get a handle on the full power of the B-61, consider
that the WW II A-bombs produced fireballs about 800 yards across. Seventeen
times more powerful, a B-61 over the tip of Manhattan would probably provide
decent annihilation, engulfing most of the borough while extending the
same courtesy to Brooklyn, Queens, and a good chunk of Staten Island.
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- Saddam has dug but he won't be able to hide. One B-61
will bring on a calamity of biblical proportions between Tigris and Euphrates.
The sky will turn the color of sackcloth, the Arab world will supernova,
our European allies will try our leaders in absentia as war criminals in
the Hague-but, hey, anyone who contemplates using the thing plans on America's
hair getting a little mussed.
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- Strangeloves in the administration and the weapons labs
believe future B-61 blasts will be contained below ground, making this
a great war-fighter, not a doomsday device. But the only people who believe
that get paid by the government to do so.
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- http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0252/smith.php
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