By Walid Shoebat
When it comes to nuclear bombs, its not size that matters, it is their capability to kill millions. Shoebat.com previously reported on the active siege regarding nuclear bombs at Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base during the failed July 15 coup (read here and here).
While some considered parts of our reports as ‘conspiracy theory’ now this matter is gaining national attention and has finally gained a new report from the Congressional Research Service which reveals Congress was briefed on the matter. This situation of some 50 – 100 B61 nuclear bombs in Turkey and 60 miles away from ISIS is a serious matter indeed.
While the matter is serious, the brief may be the most stupid report to come out of U.S. Congress. It gives an official confirmation of the location of the bombs on record, and it goes into detail on why and how the bombs are stored. Of course this is great info for any terrorist entity. What is also revealing is our inept government, an issue that should be brought up by Donald Trump and exposed to the American people as well as the highest level in our government.
The goal for these weapons at Incirlik, the report reveals, is that since these are the shorter-range variety, they are mainly valuable to deter potential aggression and demonstrate the US’s commitment to NATO.
This so far sounds fine and dandy. However, Incirlik is unusual, in that Turkey does not own or maintain nuclear-capable aircraft, and Ankara does not even allow the US to fly nuclear-capable bombers to that airbase.
Therefore, the presence of such nuclear bombs should be questioned and reversed. The bombs that sit in Incirlik can’t actually be used, or they would have to be hauled to another base first before they get used since the Turks forbid the U.S. from using them.
Even worse, the report concludes that the security situation of the bombs as ‘adequate’ since:
“U.S. B61 bombs are stored on racks in secure underground vaults, inside protective aircraft shelters. The shelters are within a heavily guarded security perimeter, with U.S. forces responsible for their security. Reports indicate that the security perimeter at Incirlik was upgraded in 2015, and includes double fencing, lighting, cameras, and intrusion detection devices. The bombs are reported to be 12 feet long and heavy. Even if someone gained access to the shelters and vaults, it would be difficult to move the bombs without proper equipment.”
This is how laughable the report is. One line in the report reveals that this place is not “impenetrable”:
Besides that, what about a massive takeover?
“There are no do-overs in history, but there are lessons,” says the former top White House arms control official Steve Andreasen. “What if the Turkish base commander at Incirlik had ordered his troops surrounding the perimeter of the base to turn their guns on the US soldiers that reportedly guard US nuclear storage bunkers there?”
What if Turkey gave an ultimatum between delivering Fethullah Gulen or losing their nukes?
I guess Turkey will have a problem since these bombs are “reported to be 12 feet long and heavy”?
Turkey, I guess, does not own a dolly that can lift these 12 foot heavy nukes.
So the report maintains that the following turmoil in Turkey’s governance, and the brief loss of commercial power to the base, the nuclear weapons at the base were never in harm’s way. This of course assumes that a band of handful terrorists attack the base.
There are good reasons to question nuclear presence in Turkey (which does not even allow the U.S. to haul such bombs). Turkey is turning Islamist and the U.S. doesn’t even care.
So why do we have weapons of mass destruction in Turkey?
Listen to how ridiculous this may sound, the report concludes that a proposed “move [of nuclear weapons] might not only raise concerns about the U.S. commitment to Turkey’s defense …” bla bla bla.
In other words, moving these nukes would represent a loss of confidence in the Turkish system and will insult the Sultan of Turkey.
What the U.S. is afraid of the most is ‘criticism’. The U.S. is to protect NATO. In the Baltics, NATO’s newest members count on the US to provide credible and effective nuclear deterrence against potential Russian aggression.
The U.S. turning back to cold-war era fears from Russia must also consider Turkey’s new hostility against the U.S. considering a recent shift in Turkish-Russian relations.
But perhaps the best answer to what Turkey is telling the Americans can be found at the American side entrance to the Incirlik. There you can find a sign in English which was lifted up yesterday sending a loaded message to the Americans at the base:
Holding at least 50 B-61 tactical nuclear weapons with a charge upwards of a 100 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, sitting only 60 miles (97km) away from ISIS strongholds across the Turkish-Syrian border is extremely dangerous. Even worse, having these reside in the heart of Turkey which is evolving to be an enemy of the United States is not simply madness, it is national suicide.
It is not Donald Trump’s fingers on nuclear weapons that endangers the United States, it is the tentacles of a mad Sultan that should worry us all.