Free Republic

Diplomacy is doing nothing to stop the Iranian nuclear threat; a show of force is the only answer. WE MUST bomb Iran. It has been four years since that country's secret nuclear program was brought to light, and the path of diplomacy and sanctions has led nowhere. First, we agreed to our allies' requests that we offer Tehran a string of concessions, which it spurned. Then, Britain, France and Germany wanted to impose a batch of extremely weak sanctions. For instance, Iranians known to be involved in nuclear activities would have been barred from foreign travel — except for humanitarian...

The U.S. is retrofitting its B-2 Stealth bombers with massive bunker-buster bombs - a move that could be a prelude to an attack on Iran and its nuclear facilities. Iran has refused to comply with international demands that it stop its nuclear weapons programs. Experts have noted that a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program could be difficult due to the large number of installations - some of which are buried deep underground in hardened bunkers.

U.S., Israel Ponder How to Slow Iranian Nuclear Weapons Development By David A. Fulghum and Douglas Barrie 09/10/2006 04:47:58 PM BUSTING THE BOMB The fighting in southern Lebanon revealed Iran's willingness to supply sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah, and one of its ships was intercepted trying to do just that for Hamas in the Palestinian territories. A continuing series of tests has demonstrated Iran's growing arsenal of ballistic, tactical and sea-based weapons, and Western intelligence officials anticipate its fielding of locally built versions of fighter-launched, long-range, air-to-surface missiles. But the real fear is Iran's development of nuclear weapons. Once built, they...

Iran's Mix-and-Match Air Force Still May Have Bite Aviation Week & Space Technology 09/11/2006 Authors: Douglas Barrie and Andy Nativi Israel's 1981 strike against Iraq's Osirak nuclear site was achieved without loss of any aircraft. But it is far from guaranteed that an attack intended to degrade any Iranian nuclear weapons program would have the same outcome. The Iranian air force inventory is a mix of Western, Russian and Chinese combat aircraft--most of them obsolescent. Any spares for Western aircraft will have to be bought surreptitiously, or be work-arounds found using local technology because an arms embargo remains in place....

"Traditional "bunker busters" are streamlined bombs that rely on sheer weight to force their way through soil, rock or concrete. But the new design has a blunt nose that forces the earth ahead of it out to the sides, creating a cavity the bomb can easily slide through, allowing it to reach much deeper buried structures than conventional bunker busters."

IRAN'S uranium enrichment facilities, built in underground bunkers, would survive any military strikes, the Islamic republic's nuclear program director said today. "The enrichment facilities, particularly Natanz, are located underground and no offensive could damage them," said Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, quoted by the student ISNA news agency. Mr Aghazadeh also boasted about the fortress like nature of its Isfahan plant, which is located in a network of subterranean tunnels, and touted Iran's uranium supplies. "Our reserves are extremely developed. We can extract uranium from mines in Bandar Abbas, Saghand and Yazd," he said. Israeli officials...

Direct Strike Hard Target Weapon / Big BLU MOAB Although the Direct Strike Hard Target Weapon concept was unfunded as of 1997, in early 2002 it was reported that Northrop-Grumman and Lockheed Martin were working on a 30,000-lb. earth penetrating guided conventional weapon, said to be known as "Big BLU" or "Big Blue" [which is also the nickname of the 15,000-lb surface burst BLU-82]. Big BLU will be GPS guided and feature cobalt-alloy penetrator bomb body that enables it to penetrate to depths of up to 100 feet below the surface before detonating. The bombs are so large that a...

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) - Sixty years after the first atomic bomb was tested in the New Mexico desert, the United States still has some 2,000 nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert and is considering new weapons such as earth-penetrating bunker busters. The US administration has agreed to pare back its nuclear arsenal from about 10,000 warheads today to about 6,000 in 2012 under the Moscow Treaty reached with Russia in 2001. But even as it moves to retire much of its Cold War arsenal, it has pressed a reluctant Congress for funds for nuclear bunker-buster studies, refurbished nuclear testing...

The Pentagon has informed the US congress that Israel has requested to purchase 100 laser-guided smart bombs, which could potentially be used to target and destroy underground bunkers, Israel Radio reported. The cost of the deal would reach $30 million. Pentagon officials said that the deal would not effect the balance of power in the Middle East, although American military experts suggested that Israel could use the bombs to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. The laser-guided bombs, manufactured by the Lockheed Martin Corporation, can be carried by F-15 fighter jets. Congress has a 30-day deadline to decide on whether or not...

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is pressing for funding to restart the study of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 16, 2004). “I think we should request funds in FY06 and FY07 to complete the study,” Rumsfeld wrote in a Jan. 10 memo to then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. “Our staffs have spoken about funding the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator study to support its completion by April 2007.” A Defense Department spokesman yesterday confirmed the contents of the memo, saying the Pentagon “supports completion of the study” of the bunker-buster nuclear weapon. The Bush...

WASHINGTON (AFP) Sep 17, 2003 The US Senate on Tuesday rejected a measure that would have halted the development of "bunker buster" bombs -- small nuclear weapons created for battefield use -- while also allowing the resumption of underground nuclear tests. By a 53-41 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate rejected legislation sponsored by Democrats Dianne Feinstein of California and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. "At the very time when we are urging other nations to halt their own nuclear weapons programs, the administration is rushing forward to develop our own new nuclear weapons," said Kennedy, who warned that a new "nuclear arms...

<p>LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) - About 1,000 people rallied outside a federal weapons laboratory Sunday to protest the Bush administration's plan to design so-called nuclear "bunker buster" bombs that could burrow into the ground and destroy buried targets. Protesters came from as far as Washington D.C. to march on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, about 35 miles east of San Francisco. Protest organizers and a lab spokesman agreed that the crowd numbered about 1,000 people.</p>

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites) has voted to lift a ban on research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons in the United States. A provision repealing the 10-year-old ban was included in the 2004 national defense authorization bill, which the Senate committee passed Friday. The bill must still pass through the US House Armed Services Committee, the full House and the Senate and can be amended at each stage. US President George W. Bush (news - web sites), whose administration had requested the repeal, would then have to sign the bill to...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US scientists are trying to develop a new superfast missile that would be able to strike distant targets with lightning speed, all but denying future enemies of Washington a chance to escape, according to people familiar with the project. The highly-classified program, whose origins go back to the early 1980s, has taken on added importance in the wake of two daring, albeit inconclusive, recent attempts by the US military to kill Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. On March 20 and April 7, US forces used cruise missiles and bunker-busting bombs against two locations in Baghdad where intelligence...

<p>BAGHDAD — Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's entourage hid out in the home of a former family bodyguard for much of the U.S.-led air war, fleeing only when a bunker-bursting bomb meant for Saddam struck a block away, neighborhood residents said yesterday.</p>

Crew Took Minutes to Hit Saddam Hideout By PAULINE JELINEK .c The Associated Press WASHINTGON (AP) - ``This is the big one'' was the message relayed to a B-1 bomber as it prepared for a mission in western Iraq. Crew members didn't know exactly what that meant. But 12 minutes later, they had diverted from their original plan, sped some 200 miles to Baghdad and dropped four huge bombs on a suspected hiding place of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, his sons and other regime leaders, said bombardier Lt. Col. Fred Swan. ``When we got the word that it was a...

<p>The U.S. military has targeted a sight believed to be where Saddam Hussein, his sons and other senior Iraqi officials were said to be meeting, senior U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News on Monday.</p> <p>Sources said there is huge hole at the home where the meeting allegedly took place.</p>

U.S. Strikes on Word of Saddam Meeting By MATT KELLEY .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - An American bomber struck a residential complex in Baghdad on Monday after U.S. intelligence received information that Saddam Hussein, his sons and other top Iraqi leaders might be meeting there, U.S. officials said. There was no immediate word on who might have been killed, but U.S. officials said they had evidence the target had been destroyed. ``There is a big hole where that target used to be,'' one U.S. official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity. The attack was carried out by...

Just Breaking (no link)

<p>German who helped design Iraqi leader's shelter says conventional bombs inadequate.</p> <p>A German trained as a civil-defense engineer said Sunday that he helped a company design a bunker under Saddam Hussein's Baghdad palace in the early 1980s that is likely to withstand even the newest non-nuclear bombs.</p>