Mushroom Clouds for Peace

This has been blogged extensively at the community sites in Lefty Blogistan, but I wanted to compile some information and posts regarding the upcoming detonation of a 700-lb. bunker-busting bomb in Nevada.

Taking another cue from Orwell, the blast test has been named Divine Strake.

The DIVINE STRAKE full scale test is planned to be a large-yield, buried burst detonated at the Nevada Test Site. Divine Strake would appear to be associated with the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator RNEP, or possibly the B61-11 Earth-Penetrating Weapon, a fact that is obscured in most press coverage. Divine Strake is a high-explosive (HE) test sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The test is a detonation of a 700 ton buried heavy AN/FO charge above a tunnel structure. The main purpose of the test is to study ground shock effects on deeply buried tunnel structures. Of secondary interest is the airblast produced by a buried charge and its modification as it propagates over the local terrain. Scheduled for the summer of 2006, as of 01 April 2006 the test was planned for 02 June 2006.

linkage to GlobalSecurity.org

All signs point to this blast being a clear message to the Iranian government that the United States will not hesitate to use the full horror of our military arsenal against them, specifically nuclear weaponry. I would like to echo Real History Lisa's commentary on this terrible possibility.

The entire world outside the Bush administration and a few defense contractors opposes the use of any and every kind of nuclear weapon. But Bush and his cronies are determined to try out their new toys, even if they have to destroy the last shred of America's credibility as a compassionate nation to do so.

Could they really be that insane? Iran does not have nuclear weapons. It will not have them for many more years even if we did nothing at all in the immediate future. There is plenty of time to seek diplomatic solutions.

[snip]

Translation: They really are that insane. They are hellbent on using their nuclear weapons. They think if they make them smaller they will be okay.

And why should that be a surprise? This is the team that doesn't believe in science, that believes that reality is whatever they want it to be.

And if they lived in a padded cell, that would be perfectly fine.

But their belief now imperils hundreds of thousands if not several million, because make no mistake - if we use nuclear weapons offensively for any reason, they will be used on us. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of our lives, because radiation is forever, nearly. Just ask the people from Chernobyl.

Aside from the fact that this impending mushroom cloud is being staged on stolen land from the Winnemucca Indian Colony, it should be obvious to any sane person that this is the worst possible type of weapon to be in the queue under Rummy and George's leadership incompetence.

I will bet that the majority of Americans have no clue that this test is occurring. RenaRF alerts us to the plees being made by Air America's Randi Rhodes to draw attention to this blatant form of warmongering. (from a recent appearance on Lou Dobbs' CNN show)

RHODES: ... I did not come here to be partisan. I came here today, Lou -- I swear to you -- I came here today to ask you to do something. Seriously! My callers -- my listeners -- yours, too, I'm sure -- always get to this point and they go, well, then, James, what do you want us to do? What do we do? What do we do?

If every single camera that's available in the media -- cable- wide, network-wide -- is not in Nevada at the nuclear test site on June 2nd to watch 1.4 millions pounds of explosives be blown up so they can do the math and figure out how to make a tactical nuke, a smaller nuclear weapon that will represent that much firepower for Iran -- if we don't show America this mushroom cloud that will explode in Nevada on the 2nd of June, there is no hope for the American people, there is no hope for the media.

Crooks and Liars has the video clip. RenaRF continues with a request from Kossacks who will be attending YearlyKos in Las Vegas, scheduled for a couple of days past the blast date, to make sure they have cameras and videos rolling so the mushroom cloud is certain to make its way into the public consciousness; hopefully scaring them into the reality that such great and terrible power will be in the hands of a madman and his band of goons. She also offers this practical advice for those who can't be physically present for the bombing.

I also would urge a letter to the President, to Don Rumsfeld (as suggested with contact information via links found below) [here], and your Senators as a good starting point to vehemently oppose this blatant move in the direction of nuclear proliferation.

As I said yesterday with the posting on torture and rendition flights, "we have to start somewhere". The alternative is too horrifying to contemplate.

Tags: divine strake, nuclear weapons, nevada, Iran, mushroom cloud