The Dangers of a Middle East Nuclear War- Mini-Nukes are "Safe"-Pentagon

The Bush administration’s nuclear doctrine contains specific “guidelines” which allow for “preemptive” nuclear strikes against “rogue enemies” which “possess” or are “developing” weapons of mass destruction (WMD). (2001 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) and Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations (DJNO)).

 ”In October 1993, Harold Smith, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy, sought approval to develop an alternative to the B53 high-yield nuclear bomb, which was the principal “bunker buster” weapon in the U.S. arsenal. The B53 was also the heaviest payload nuke in use, weighing 8,900 pounds, and only deployable from the B-52 bombers. Under the guise of “weapons modernization,” Smith was pushing the development of the B61-Mod 11.

… The B61-11 was developed and put into the stockpile without full-scale nuclear tests. Some critics have maintained that the B61-11 is a new nuclear weapon, but the US has said all along that the B61-11 is not new, but a modification of older B61s to give the weapon an earth-penetrating capability to destroy buried targets….”

(http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/b61.htm)

 

A B-2A bomber releases a test version of the new B61-11 gravity bomb over the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada