oops? OOPS?!

when i first heard the reports of a B-52 Stratofortress that 'accidentally' carried five 150-kiloton nuclear-armed cruise missiles earlier today i was suspicious. now i'm concerned.

a post on Larry Johnson's blog sheds some light and offers some possible explanation.

Johnson is ex-CIA and has worked with U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism, and now heads an anti-terror consulting firm that "works with US military commands in scripting terrorism exercises", according to his bio.

his post contains some inside perspective on this unusual incident:

"(H)ow does someone watching a B-52 land identify the cruise missiles as nukes? It just does not make sense.

So I called a old friend and retired B-52 pilot and asked him...My buddy...reminded me that the only times you put weapons on a plane is when they are on alert or if you are tasked to move the weapons to a specific site.

Then he told me something I had not heard before.

Barksdale Air Force Base is being used as a jumping off point for Middle East operations. Gee, why would we want cruise missile nukes at Barksdale Air Force Base. Can’t imagine we would need to use them in Iraq. Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?

various comments on this blog back up the notion that cruise missiles don't just get strapped on a B-52's wing by accident.

"There is no way the weapons would have moved without a top-level...directive to do so, because of treaty obligations dating to the Cold War, because of the potential for really big problems in the wrong hands or if there’s a crash during transport."

"Pilots (or anyone else) are not supposed to just fly off with nuclear bombs, and base commanders are not supposed to tell them to do so unless so ordered by higher command."

"...violates multiple layers of command and control systems and also four decades of policy. What are the odds?"

"‘no way, they know d*mned well those are armed."

"The controls on weapons and nuclear fuel is insanely tight.. This story just CAN’T happen."

therefore, if not an accident, two distinct possibilities emerge: preparation for use in Iran; or an attempt to intimidate Tehran.

oops my ass.