Last month’s failed military coup in Turkey raised new discussions about long-standing US deployments of tactical nuclear weapons in the Incirlik Air Base, and continues to spark concern about the security of such arms. Today, a report by the Stimson Center termed the arms to be “at risk” of seizure.
The report cautioned that it is “unanswerable” if the US could have kept control of the weapons if the coup had turned into a protracted civil conflict, at opposed to being resolved in less than half a day, adding that the “significant safeguards” the US has in place can’t add up to total certainty.
Report co-author Laicie Heeley concluded that keeping the US nuclear weapons just 70 miles from the Syrian border amounts to “a roll of the dice,” warning they are a liability to NATO in Europe with no potential utility on the European battlefield.
That’s been a repeated knock on the deployment, with retired Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger noting late last month that the tactical nuclear weapons “no longer have any military usefulness.” The low-yield weapons were designed in the 1960s, and very few remain in service anymore, with what’s left mostly just scattered around bases in Europe as a throwback to the Cold War.
Tactical nuclear weapons were designed for use on contested battlefields, with low enough yields that they could be deployed in relatively close proximity to allied troops without killing them. The weapons have been roundly criticized both for the long-term radiation damage they could do to targets and for the substantial risk that “going nuclear” would quickly escalate a conflict into a full exchange of strategic nuclear weapons and the deaths of untold millions.
This lack of utility has led nuclear powers to dramatically scale back their tactical arsenals, though as with the rest of the nuclear arsenals on the planet, there is considerable momentum behind keeping such costly weapons funded and “modernized.” Keeping the US arms in Europe and Turkey, for no good reason and at substantial risk, seems aimed primarily at retaining the illusion that such arms matter as anything but a sinkhole for billions in funding to fall into.
The coup was unsuccessful and the chances for another coup are extremely remote, due to the regime’s subsequent actions. The real reason we want to remove the nukes is to keep them from Erdogan, in light of his warming relations with Russia and Iran (and Israel).
Bingo! You got it. At first I thought the coup was a false flag performed by Erdogan with US support. But now, all of the sudden, America’s favorite Sultan is slurping caviar out of Putin’s ass. Somethings up. My guess is the US grew weary of Erdogan’s growing rogue ego, much like they did with Saddam, and decided to 86 their old buddy but Russian intelligence caught wind of our plot and gave Erdogan a heads up just in time to foil the coup and use it to his favor. Thus we have the once pro-ISIS Erdogan chumming it up with the Russians and Iranians and threatening to kick us out of their base. Game, set, match, Putin.
A theory of some interest, although a handshake is not exactly “slurping caviar out of Putin’s ass”. What kind of language is that??
I thought it was funny but hey, you know what they say about opinions and *ssholes- Everybody’s got one and some people like to slurp caviar out of them. That is how that saying goes, isn’t it?
The real story: US nukes all over the world, yet the US still says it doesn’t want to see nuclear proliferation. Where are the nuclear weapons to protect the ME from the US?
Manitoba
Aug 12, 2016 Iran and Turkey pledge greater cooperation on Syria
Despite their differences, the foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran are pledging greater cooperation on trying to resolve the Syrian crisis – after meeting in Ankara.
https://youtu.be/whXYW-khgq0
So, move them out of Turkey, or better yet, dismantle them.
This is more false flag events if they happen. I do hope it doesn’t.
Fatso Ditz will use anything against Turkey and pro terrorist Kurds in the area.