Monday, August 15, 2016

"US nukes at Turkey base at risk of seizure: report"

Yahoo news:  The issue took on fresh urgency last month following the attempted coup in Turkey, in which the base's Turkish commander was arrested on suspicion of complicity in the plot.
"Whether the US could have maintained control of the weapons in the event of a protracted civil conflict in Turkey is an unanswerable question," said Monday's report from the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan think tank working to promote peace.

Incirlik is a vital base for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, with the strategically located facility affording drones and warplanes fast access to IS targets.

But the Pentagon in March ordered families of US troops and civilian personnel stationed in southern Turkey to quit the region due to security fears.

"From a security point of view, it's a roll of the dice to continue to have approximately 50 of America's nuclear weapons stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey," report co-author Laicie Heeley said.

"There are significant safeguards in place. ... But safeguards are just that, they don't eliminate risk. In the event of a coup, we can't say for certain that we would have been able to maintain control," she told AFP.

- 'Avoided disaster so far' -
Elsewhere, Russia Building New Underground Nuclear Command Posts | U.S. intelligence detects dozens of hardened bunkers for leaders

9 comments:

edutcher said...

We have Ranger battalions to go after those things, but have we an Administration that would give the order?

Adamsunderground said...

Seize? President Hillary won't even bat an eye at such gall. She'll drool and shake a little, sure, but...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

On the other hand... since everything is viewed thru a political prims these days... Who is this report attempting to help politically? Hillary or Trump?

edutcher said...

prims?

I know, fat-finger, I seem to be developing a talent at it.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

But they are Bama Buddies? 👳🏿

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

prism? prism.

that's what I meant. thanks ed.

chickelit said...

Lem said...
On the other hand... since everything is viewed thru a political prims these days... Who is this report attempting to help politically?

Typos which resemble a good malaprop can be confusing. In your case "political prims" has a relevant meaning, especially in this year's election. What are NeverTrumpers if not prim? Never mind the distinction of a noun and an adjective.

The Dude said...

Sadly, we have bunkers for our "leaders", too. Seems like they should be the first casualties in the troubles they caused.

ndspinelli said...

We bought a house in our daughter's college town for her to live in and manage. We believe in real world experience and she was a business major. The house was an old Lutheran parsonage. It had a bomb shelter in the basement. It had a well, pit toilet, fold down beds, etc. My daughter was afraid of tornadoes. I told her she could survive an F22 in that shelter.