Showdown With Iraq!!!

[jimboi]

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i read this on CNN.com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Air Force Tuesday tested the biggest conventional bomb in the military's arsenal, dropping the new 21,000-pound device on a test site at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, U.S. officials said.

The Pentagon hopes the test will pave the way for use of the bomb -- should there be a war in Iraq -- against critical targets on the surface and underground.

The new Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, was dropped from a military transport plane over a test site at Eglin, 60 miles east of Pensacola, Florida, just after 2 p.m.

It was the final test of the new Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, and the first to use actual explosives. Two previously undisclosed tests, one in February and one on Friday, were inert.

The Air Force released video of the Tuesday's test, which showed the bomb falling through the sky and bursting into a massive fireball upon impact. A cloud of smoke then rose hundreds of feet into the sky.

The video was released in hopes of placing additional pressure on the Iraqi military, officials said.

"The goal is to have the pressure be so great that Saddam Hussein cooperates," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters. "Short of that -- an unwillingness to cooperate -- the goal is to have the capabilities of the coalition so clear and so obvious that there is an enormous disincentive for the Iraqi military to fight against the coalition."

The National Earthquake Information Center said it found no seismic activity as a result of the explosion, as some in the military had indicated might occur. A 10,000-foot cloud had been expected and local residents had been warned of possible loud noise.

Kathy Fite, a waitress at the International House of Pancakes in Fort Walton Beach, about 20 miles from the test site, said she heard the explosion, but it did not rattle the restaurant's windows or shake the ground.

She described the explosion as loud, but "not real loud." Fite said the blast was comparable to the sound of warships that sometimes test fire in the area.

Pentagon officials said they were examining results of the test to determine whether it worked as designed.

MOAB, privately known in military circles as "the mother of all bombs," has been under development since late last year. The bomb carries 18,000 pounds of tritonal explosives, which have an indefinite shelf life. It replaces the Vietnam-era "Daisy Cutter," a 15,000-pound bomb with 12,600 pounds of the less-powerful GSX explosives.

As originally conceived, the MOAB was to be used against large formations of troops and equipment or hardened above-ground bunkers. The target set has also been expanded to include deeply buried targets.

But military officials tell CNN that the MOAB is mainly conceived as a weapon employed for "psychological operations." Military officials say they hope the MOAB will create such a huge blast that it will rattle Iraq troops and pressure them into surrendering or not even fighting. Officials suggest perhaps the Iraqis might even mistake a MOAB blast for a nuclear detonation.

The MOAB is deployed on a pallet from a C-130 aircraft. It initially has a parachute, but as it deploys, the Inertial Navigation System and Global Positioning System take over. The bomb also has wings and grid fins for guidance.

[jimboi]

i thought that they were preventing weapons of mass destruction? and now what are they making? weapons of population control? heheh.. i mean, how can they stop others from making weapons of mass destruction when they could not stop themselves?

[Ulrick]

hehehe...

sad but true

[Si0_pa0]

US says 2 other countries: DISARM...or else.........
secretly US is making more weapons of mass destruction........so they can rule the world.........
y dont they disarm first and show leadership by example...........
=)™

[SPACEMAN]

yep! i saw it too. their using the testing propaganda to intimadate the iraques. Damn! It doesn't matter wether iraq complys or not -with or without U.N. backing GEORGE'S GOV. is still going to push its plan of going to war. He's too stuborn to pull its troops back, too proud, to admit 0r accept he's wrong. He thinks he will win, WHAAHAHAH! attacking iraq will spark a wave of terorrist attacks all around the world. everybody is unsafe from these tthreats. AMERICA is not the only country on earth- George BUSH is not the king. How come this man decides who lives & dies, He will indanger all of us. BUT sadly though' we cant do anything about it, no matter how much anti war rallies, or how many naked parades are there... - this man just cant hear wat the people are saying/wants. SUCKS! PLEASE STOP THIS WAR SHIT. ITS STUPID TO BEGIN WITH. STOP B4 WE START TO BLOW'N EACH OTHER TO THY KINGDOM COME.

Im not anti-american but i strongly oppose Bush's plans of going to war.
Live in simple ways, so that others may simply live. (PLATO)

[Si0_pa0]

so in the next election go for the democrats......not the republicans............

[BeoR]

the MOAB is not a weapon of mass destruction.. it is still a conventional bomb... what they classify as weapons of mass destruction are nukes, chemical, & biological weapons... weapons that leave effects even after years....

[jimboi]

i know.. we all know that the US has the capability to make, and i know they already have stuff nasty enough to destroy the world.. i know MOAB is just an extraordinary bomb, but what next? its not about now.. its about the years to come...

[jimboi]

18,000 pounds of tritonal explosives.. it could still destroy..

[BeoR]

it's a known fact that all powerful countries continue to develop weapons... it's not a question about who is making or who is entitled to one, it is a question on how they intend to use it...