October 24, 2007
ABC News
Jonathon Karl
White House Bomber Request Leaves Some Wondering if U.S. Is Preparing Action in Iran.Tucked inside the White House's 196 billion dollars emergency funding request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is an item that has some people wondering whether the administration is preparing for military action against Iran.
The item: $88 million to modify B-2 stealth bombers so they can carry a newly developed 30,000-pound bomb called the massive ordnance penetrator, or, in military-speak, the MOP.
The MOP is the the military's largest conventional bomb, a super "bunker-buster" capable of destroying hardened targets deep underground. The one-line explanation for the request said it is in response to "an urgent operational need from theater commanders."
What urgent need? The Pentagon referred questions on this to Central Command.
ABC News called CENTCOM to ask what the "urgent operational need" is. CENTCOM spokesman Maj. Todd White said he would look into it, but, so far, no answer.
There doesn't appear to be any potential targets for a bomb like that in Iraq. It could potentially be used on Taliban or al Qaeda hideouts in the caves along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but there would be no need to use a stealth bomber there.
So where would the military use a stealth bomber armed with a 30,000-pound bomb like this? Defense analysts say the most likely target for this bomb would be Iran's flagship nuclear facility in Natanz, which is both heavily fortified and deeply buried.
"You'd use it on Natanz," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org. "And you'd use it on a stealth bomber because you want it to be a surprise. And you put in an emergency funding request because you want to bomb quickly."
"It's kind of strange," Pike said. "It sends a signal that you are preparing to bomb Iran, and if you were actually going to bomb Iran I wouldn't think you would want to announce it like that."
The MOP is a massive bomb -- 20 feet long and encased in 3.5 inch thick high-performance steel. It is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding.
The bomb was developed by Northrop Grumman and Boeing for the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
In an interview earlier this year with Air Force Times, Bob Hastie, the manager of the MOP program explained its purpose: "We have a mission to defeat ... hard and deeply buried targets where our adversary would have the support structure for WMD-type systems."
4 comments:
IAEA report Iran 3-8 years from nuclear weapons..........other countries are much more afraid of the UN NOW....and here is one more reason.
Sorry US not UN....
I hope Turkey on the Iraq border will keep the U.S. distracted enough to stall.
Any bombing of Iran will guarantee the Democrats a win.
If the idiot is stupid enough to illegally bomb Iran the US will get a big surprise. Iran has gathered it supporters and as for Nukes it seems they don't need them. Now during my day the Atom Bomb was the big weapon, then came Nukes. Iran has a new weapon that will surprise the US just like the 9/11 attacks used our planes. Russia and China will support Iran. The Saudis have already said if the US attacks Iran they will support Iran. Israel is the only friend the US has left. Now Iran does have weapons that would wipe out Israel. Notice how Israel is slowly moving away for the White House and Connie Rice. There's a reason for that action. Countries aren't willing to follow the US on anything and more.
This is all talk for the White House to continue to rob the US Treasury. Most of the people that have resigned from White House and Blackwater are still on the pay roll.
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