A simplified diagram of the “Rutherford Atom”
THE MIGHT OF THE WEST IS UNSURPASSED
Islam’s one nuclear nation has less than 1% of the USA’s stockpile
During the 1990s when the Cold War had just ended, an Iranian man, when asked by me why the West will not permit certain countries to possess nuclear weapons, replied: “When a country has nuclear weapons it is invulnerable,” thereby implying that the West, collectively, wants certain parties to be vulnerable and presumably insecure, in his view.
While the argument about the Islamic Republic’s right to possess a nuclear power station or two along with the potential to be nuclear weapons capable goes on, perhaps it is apposite to consider what the opposing camp has in its larder, in this regard.
The American authorities keep saying that the Iranians with whom they have dealings about the Natanz nuclear research facility are not open and frank about what they are doing and what their (or their successors’) ultimate intentions are.
Be that as it may, there can be little doubt that those in conflict with the present Iranian government about doomsday weapons do not appear to conceal what they have - with the exception of Israel.
It certainly seems to be the case that nuclear weapons have roots which go back to the early days of 20th century research in modern physics, to the initial discoveries attributed to Albert Einstein and to Marie Curie and, going back further, to Ernest Rutherford and the “Rutherford Atom.”
At any rate, the second world war was the engine that accelerated the pace of innovation with both the Germans and the Americans fielding high-powered research teams to produce what subsequently became known by anti-Semites as “The Jewish hell-bomb.” The final result was, of course as we all know, the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 which ended the war and the world has never been the same again.
Throughout the Cold War the only factor preventing it from becoming “hot” was the existence of nuclear bombs which could have been transported by aircraft or on the tips of missiles. Since the Soviet Union, on account of Marxist theory, championed the doctrine of racial equality it followed that the vast majority of the world’s underprivileged and put-upon former colonial subjects were logically expected to side with the red cause.
Therefore, time was of the essence. It was necessary to put an absolute end to the red menace before the third world linked up with the Russians, thereby creating a situation of such overwhelming numerical superiority that the countries of the Western alliance would have had no choice other than to capitulate or to fight under disadvantageous conditions.
That that did not happen is attributable, I submit to just two causations:
· The Western courting of the third world leaderships at the time
· The heavier-than-Soviet nuclear arsenal possessed by the USA
Now, as we all know, the Cold War has been fought and won by the West, so much so that the Russian Federation is part of it in most things bar name. The enemy of choice now is militant Islam along with its offshoot - terrorism - and the Western nations still have plenty of nuclear tipped weapons in arsenals all over the world.
The Islamic nations – bar Pakistan – have none at all.
This is the USA’s position as of 25 November, 2006:
STRATEGIC FORCES
Warhead/Weapon
First Produced
Yield (kilotons)
User
Number (warheads)
Status
Bombs
B61-7 Strategic
10/66
10 to 350
AF
470
The Mod-7 is the only version in the strategic stockpile. The Mod-7 is a converted Mod-1 with a Cat D PAL and IHE.
B61-11
11/97
10 to 350
AF
55
Mod-11 is an earth penetrator.
B83/B83-1
6/83
low to 1,200
AF
620
Strategic bomb replaced B28, B43, and B53.
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles
W76/Trident I C4
6/78
100
N
3,200
Under START I over 1,500 W76 warheads from retired Trident I SSBNs were used to arm Atlantic Fleet Trident II SSBNs.
W88/Trident II D5
9/88
475
N
400
Warheads supplement the W76 warhead to arm Atlantic Fleet Trident II SSBNs.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
W62/Minuteman III
3/70
170
AF
615
Will be retired around 2009.
W78/Minuteman III
8/79
335
AF
920
300 will be used to arm single warhead MMIIIs by 2012.
W87-0/MX
4/86
300
AF
550
Missile will be retired, and 200 W87s used for single warhead MMIII by 2012.
Air-launched cruise missiles
W80-1/ALCM
12/81
5 and 150
AF
1,400
Some 900 ALCMs are in storage with their warheads removed. W80s are used to arm ACMs.
W80-1/ACM
? /90
5 and 150
AF
400
Operational in 1991. The original program of 1,461 ACMs has been cut to 460. Uses W80 warheads from ALCMs.
NON-STRATEGIC FORCES
Warhead/Weapon
First Produced
Yield (kilotons)
User
Number (warheads)
Status
B61 Tactical Bomb
3/75
0.3 to 170
AF, NATO
1,290
Mods-3, -4, -10. The Mod 10 is a converted W85 Pershing II warhead. All three Mods have Cat F PALs and IHE. Each Mod has four yield options: The B61-3 (0.3, 1.5, 60 and 170 Kt), the B61-4 (0.3, 1.5, 10, and 45 Kt), and the B61-10 (0.3, 5, 10, and 80 Kt).
W80-0/SLCM
12/83
5 and 150
N
320
Nuclear SLCMs now stored ashore. Original program of 758 SLCMs for 200 ships and submarines was reduced to 367 SLCMs for 25 Sturgeon-class, 62 Los Angeles-class, and 3 Seawolf-class attack submarines.
ACM: advanced cruise missile; AF: Air Force; ALCM: air-launched cruise missile; IHE: Insensitive High Explosive; N: Navy; NATO: non-U.S. delivery systems; PAL: Permissive Action Link.
Thus it can be seen that, as of that date, the American arsenal consisted of 8630 warheads of which 3600 (or 42%) are Trident submarine launched missiles.
By way of contrast the Pakistani nuclear stockpile the same year is thought to be as follows:
Type/Designation
Range(km)
Payload(kg)
Comment
Aircraft
F-16A/B
1,600
5,450
At Sargodha AB
Missiles
Ghauri I (Hatf-5)
1,300-1,500
500-750
Basically North Korean No Dong missile
Ghauri II (Hatf-6)
2,000-2,300
750-1,000
Test-fired on April 14, 1999
Pakistan is thought to actually possess 24-48 nuclear weapons and to have the potential to have 30-52 all-in-all if all the stops were pulled out.
At the most heavy end of the possibilities – that of Pakistan having 52 of these weapons – the only Islamic country with doomsday weapons has less than one percent of the American arsenal; that does not even take into account the nuclear weapons of the Americans’ allies. This is a terrific one-sidedness in the world’s non-balance of power.
My argument is that this kind of situation results in the state of affairs where conflict in battlefield conditions is a non-starter in the usual course of events. The predictable results of the two Gulf Wars only serve to underline that.
The only option available to those who are prepared to physically confront the might of the West is terrorism.
Even here, the options are limited. Heiko Khoo the Hyde Park orator once said in my presence: “I believe there is a god in this world. It is the CIA. They have satellites looking down at you all the time. If you take your pocket handkerchief out of your pocket in the open air they can see it.”
The approach of the United Kingdom’s citizenry is aptly summed up by David Aitken of Stirling who says: “I don’t believe in the use of nuclear weapons. I am an old man now, almost 70. I have two young sons. I don’t want them to be destroyed.”
Bearing all this in mind, therefore, I submit that as terrorism has terrible consequences in the form of arousing the wrath of an invincible foe, the international Muslim peoples (“the Ummah”) have no realistic option other than to follow Western guidance and direction, at least in this generation
THE MIGHT OF THE WEST IS UNSURPASSED
Islam’s one nuclear nation has less than 1% of the USA’s stockpile
During the 1990s when the Cold War had just ended, an Iranian man, when asked by me why the West will not permit certain countries to possess nuclear weapons, replied: “When a country has nuclear weapons it is invulnerable,” thereby implying that the West, collectively, wants certain parties to be vulnerable and presumably insecure, in his view.
While the argument about the Islamic Republic’s right to possess a nuclear power station or two along with the potential to be nuclear weapons capable goes on, perhaps it is apposite to consider what the opposing camp has in its larder, in this regard.
The American authorities keep saying that the Iranians with whom they have dealings about the Natanz nuclear research facility are not open and frank about what they are doing and what their (or their successors’) ultimate intentions are.
Be that as it may, there can be little doubt that those in conflict with the present Iranian government about doomsday weapons do not appear to conceal what they have - with the exception of Israel.
It certainly seems to be the case that nuclear weapons have roots which go back to the early days of 20th century research in modern physics, to the initial discoveries attributed to Albert Einstein and to Marie Curie and, going back further, to Ernest Rutherford and the “Rutherford Atom.”
At any rate, the second world war was the engine that accelerated the pace of innovation with both the Germans and the Americans fielding high-powered research teams to produce what subsequently became known by anti-Semites as “The Jewish hell-bomb.” The final result was, of course as we all know, the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 which ended the war and the world has never been the same again.
Throughout the Cold War the only factor preventing it from becoming “hot” was the existence of nuclear bombs which could have been transported by aircraft or on the tips of missiles. Since the Soviet Union, on account of Marxist theory, championed the doctrine of racial equality it followed that the vast majority of the world’s underprivileged and put-upon former colonial subjects were logically expected to side with the red cause.
Therefore, time was of the essence. It was necessary to put an absolute end to the red menace before the third world linked up with the Russians, thereby creating a situation of such overwhelming numerical superiority that the countries of the Western alliance would have had no choice other than to capitulate or to fight under disadvantageous conditions.
That that did not happen is attributable, I submit to just two causations:
· The Western courting of the third world leaderships at the time
· The heavier-than-Soviet nuclear arsenal possessed by the USA
Now, as we all know, the Cold War has been fought and won by the West, so much so that the Russian Federation is part of it in most things bar name. The enemy of choice now is militant Islam along with its offshoot - terrorism - and the Western nations still have plenty of nuclear tipped weapons in arsenals all over the world.
The Islamic nations – bar Pakistan – have none at all.
This is the USA’s position as of 25 November, 2006:
STRATEGIC FORCES
Warhead/Weapon
First Produced
Yield (kilotons)
User
Number (warheads)
Status
Bombs
B61-7 Strategic
10/66
10 to 350
AF
470
The Mod-7 is the only version in the strategic stockpile. The Mod-7 is a converted Mod-1 with a Cat D PAL and IHE.
B61-11
11/97
10 to 350
AF
55
Mod-11 is an earth penetrator.
B83/B83-1
6/83
low to 1,200
AF
620
Strategic bomb replaced B28, B43, and B53.
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles
W76/Trident I C4
6/78
100
N
3,200
Under START I over 1,500 W76 warheads from retired Trident I SSBNs were used to arm Atlantic Fleet Trident II SSBNs.
W88/Trident II D5
9/88
475
N
400
Warheads supplement the W76 warhead to arm Atlantic Fleet Trident II SSBNs.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
W62/Minuteman III
3/70
170
AF
615
Will be retired around 2009.
W78/Minuteman III
8/79
335
AF
920
300 will be used to arm single warhead MMIIIs by 2012.
W87-0/MX
4/86
300
AF
550
Missile will be retired, and 200 W87s used for single warhead MMIII by 2012.
Air-launched cruise missiles
W80-1/ALCM
12/81
5 and 150
AF
1,400
Some 900 ALCMs are in storage with their warheads removed. W80s are used to arm ACMs.
W80-1/ACM
? /90
5 and 150
AF
400
Operational in 1991. The original program of 1,461 ACMs has been cut to 460. Uses W80 warheads from ALCMs.
NON-STRATEGIC FORCES
Warhead/Weapon
First Produced
Yield (kilotons)
User
Number (warheads)
Status
B61 Tactical Bomb
3/75
0.3 to 170
AF, NATO
1,290
Mods-3, -4, -10. The Mod 10 is a converted W85 Pershing II warhead. All three Mods have Cat F PALs and IHE. Each Mod has four yield options: The B61-3 (0.3, 1.5, 60 and 170 Kt), the B61-4 (0.3, 1.5, 10, and 45 Kt), and the B61-10 (0.3, 5, 10, and 80 Kt).
W80-0/SLCM
12/83
5 and 150
N
320
Nuclear SLCMs now stored ashore. Original program of 758 SLCMs for 200 ships and submarines was reduced to 367 SLCMs for 25 Sturgeon-class, 62 Los Angeles-class, and 3 Seawolf-class attack submarines.
ACM: advanced cruise missile; AF: Air Force; ALCM: air-launched cruise missile; IHE: Insensitive High Explosive; N: Navy; NATO: non-U.S. delivery systems; PAL: Permissive Action Link.
Thus it can be seen that, as of that date, the American arsenal consisted of 8630 warheads of which 3600 (or 42%) are Trident submarine launched missiles.
By way of contrast the Pakistani nuclear stockpile the same year is thought to be as follows:
Type/Designation
Range(km)
Payload(kg)
Comment
Aircraft
F-16A/B
1,600
5,450
At Sargodha AB
Missiles
Ghauri I (Hatf-5)
1,300-1,500
500-750
Basically North Korean No Dong missile
Ghauri II (Hatf-6)
2,000-2,300
750-1,000
Test-fired on April 14, 1999
Pakistan is thought to actually possess 24-48 nuclear weapons and to have the potential to have 30-52 all-in-all if all the stops were pulled out.
At the most heavy end of the possibilities – that of Pakistan having 52 of these weapons – the only Islamic country with doomsday weapons has less than one percent of the American arsenal; that does not even take into account the nuclear weapons of the Americans’ allies. This is a terrific one-sidedness in the world’s non-balance of power.
My argument is that this kind of situation results in the state of affairs where conflict in battlefield conditions is a non-starter in the usual course of events. The predictable results of the two Gulf Wars only serve to underline that.
The only option available to those who are prepared to physically confront the might of the West is terrorism.
Even here, the options are limited. Heiko Khoo the Hyde Park orator once said in my presence: “I believe there is a god in this world. It is the CIA. They have satellites looking down at you all the time. If you take your pocket handkerchief out of your pocket in the open air they can see it.”
The approach of the United Kingdom’s citizenry is aptly summed up by David Aitken of Stirling who says: “I don’t believe in the use of nuclear weapons. I am an old man now, almost 70. I have two young sons. I don’t want them to be destroyed.”
Bearing all this in mind, therefore, I submit that as terrorism has terrible consequences in the form of arousing the wrath of an invincible foe, the international Muslim peoples (“the Ummah”) have no realistic option other than to follow Western guidance and direction, at least in this generation
THE END
This article was published in the 22nd June, 2006 issue of the Bangla Mirror, the first English language weekly for the United Kingdom's Bangladeshis - read all over the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
posted by Ali at 1:22 PM
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