Chatroom
 

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum > General Interest > Off-Topic Babbling
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Mark Forums Read

   

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 07:31 PM
Captain Kidd's Avatar
Captain Kidd Captain Kidd is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: :noitacoL
Posts: 2,123
Default Apparently the USA nuked Syria

Wee boy this is going to get the CT people into an uproar ... crud, that counts my in-laws. Since this isn't space related I'll plop it into Babbling.

All things considered, and the fact that I think more than one country would have detected said use, I'm doubting the case, but still, here you go:

Quote:
Al-Jazeera: Strike on Syria was made by US Air Force with tactical nukes
The September 6 raid over Syria was in fact carried out by the US Air Force, Al-Jazeera's Web site reported Friday, quoting unnamed Israeli and Arab sources as saying that two strategic US jets armed with tactical nuclear weapons executed the attack on a nuclear site under construction.

The sources were quoted as saying that Israeli F-15 and F-16 jets only provided cover for the US fighter-bombers, which carried one tactical nuclear weapon apiece. The site was hit by one bomb and totally destroyed. The use of nukes might account for the fact that the suspected plant was effectively erased from the earth, with few if any traces remaining, according to satellite photos.
I'm not finding anything on Al-Jazeera's English site though.
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 07:38 PM
Argos's Avatar
Argos Argos is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: 22°20'42"S / 49°03'14"W
Posts: 7,871
Default

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidences, I´d say.
__________________
What brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 07:47 PM
Noclevername's Avatar
Noclevername Noclevername is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 11,111
Default

Hmm, looked through all the "news" channels, there's no mention, even from Fox News who you'd expect to brag about it if we Nuked someone.
__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 07:53 PM
korjik korjik is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 3,261
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Noclevername View Post
Hmm, looked through all the "news" channels, there's no mention, even from Fox News who you'd expect to brag about it if we Nuked someone.
you would also figure the russians, british, and french would have all kinds of hissy fits about someone tossing nukes around.

seeing as I have seen photos of the site before the raid and after the syrians cleared the site, and there is a distinct lack of a crater, I would have to say that it seems that a nuke is quite unlikely.

But then, these are the people who think that certain unmentionable events in september were inside jobs, so why would we expect any reason?
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 07:58 PM
Captain Kidd's Avatar
Captain Kidd Captain Kidd is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: :noitacoL
Posts: 2,123
Default

Exactly. It's not like the USA hold that great a sway anymore, or ever. If we, or anybody for that matter, nuked somebody, other countries would be lining up decrying the event immediately. There's no way that all the world governments could be made to keep quite. Well, I guess the Illuminati could do just that, couldn't they? Probably explains why I lost my wallet a few months ago.
Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 08:12 PM
DyerWolf DyerWolf is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: The Dark Side of the Sun
Posts: 1,069
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by korjik View Post
you would also figure the russians, british, and french would have all kinds of hissy fits about someone tossing nukes around.

...?
Well, but would anyone really notice if the French threw another hissy fit?







Maybe it is true and the French are the only ones who know...
Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 08:17 PM
KaiYeves's Avatar
KaiYeves KaiYeves is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Currently on assignment on planet shown in avatar photo
Posts: 10,023
Default

Quote:
But then, these are the people who think that certain unmentionable events in september were inside jobs, so why would we expect any reason?
You mean it's not a conspiracy that they force us to go back to school?
(Just kidding, I know what you mean.)
__________________
I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.

"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 08:22 PM
Swift's Avatar
Swift Swift is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: The beautiful north coast (Ohio)
Posts: 17,744
Default

Given the work done by such groups as the The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization , as shown during North Korea's weapon test, there is absolutely no way that anyone could have used tactical nukes at this site and not have it detected by multiple methods and by multiple countries and agencies.
__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple
Reply With Quote
  #9 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 08:29 PM
Nadme's Avatar
Nadme Nadme is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Stars & Stripes
Posts: 1,047
Default

Quote:
I'm not finding anything on Al-Jazeera's English site though.
Do you suppose that's a coincidence?

Jeers to Al-Jazeera, those jokers have zero credibility imo.
Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 09:01 PM
Demigrog's Avatar
Demigrog Demigrog is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Virginia
Posts: 1,200
Default

Maybe this is just setting up Syria's explanation for any radiation detected at the site in future inspections--though any half decent inspection could probably tell the difference.
__________________
Do try not to take me too seriously.
Reply With Quote
  #11 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 10:09 PM
Ereece1 Ereece1 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Decatur, Ga.
Posts: 10
Default

Drudge links to the Jerusalem Post, which also cites Al-Jazeera. There's Al-Jazeera .com and .net, (only one I think is connected to the network) neither has it on the front page. I tried the Arabic on the .net site, but couldn't deduce anything from the pictures. Anybody read Arabic?
Reply With Quote
  #12 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 11:24 PM
Doodler's Avatar
Doodler Doodler is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Laurel, Maryland
Posts: 9,903
Send a message via MSN to Doodler Send a message via Yahoo to Doodler
Default

Apparently, these knuckleheads need to learn a little basic geography. If the US were to use nuclear weapons in the region, we'd probably be at war with the Israelis over it.

The fallout from nuclear weapons would probably end up getting dumped on just about every country in the region, friend and foe alike. The US has states larger than that region. You can't break wind in Damascus without people in Beriut and Tel Aviv smelling it.
__________________
The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.
Reply With Quote
  #13 (permalink)  
Old 02-November-2007, 11:30 PM
novaderrik's Avatar
novaderrik novaderrik is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Henning, MN, USA
Posts: 3,530
Default

if anything, they might have used a fuel-air bomb.
i've heard/read that we used them in the first gulf war, and everyone in the area thought it was a nuke-you-ler blast.
or maybe just the MOAB we developed a few years back and dropped on a few caves in Afghanistan..
__________________
"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...
Reply With Quote
  #14 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 12:07 AM
mike alexander's Avatar
mike alexander mike alexander is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: McMinnville, Oregon
Posts: 10,053
Default

Naw, it was a hafnium bomb.


"Al-Jizzera - We Make Fox News Look GOOD"
__________________
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.
Reply With Quote
  #15 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 12:48 AM
sarongsong's Avatar
sarongsong sarongsong is online now
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 8,578
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mike alexander View Post
..."Al-Jizzera - We Make Fox News Look GOOD"
No equal time for Pravda?
__________________
*
Reply With Quote
  #16 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 01:40 AM
Delvo Delvo is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,617
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Doodler View Post
The fallout from nuclear weapons would probably end up getting dumped on just about every country in the region, friend and foe alike.
That's the image people get of nukes based on the most powerful ones of all, the metropolis-vaporizing "strategic" ones. But that's not what all nukes are like, and it's not the kind of nuke that was specified in this case. In this case, they said "tactical" nuke. That's a rather small, weak nuke, on the order of a few dozen kilotons instead of hundreds of kiltons or multiple megatons like most people think of. They'll blow up an enemy encampment a few miles downrange of your own troops without risking your own troops, or blow up a small section of a city (like a particular neighborhood or a shipping/warehouse/factory district) instead of the whole thing.
Reply With Quote
  #17 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 01:49 AM
Noclevername's Avatar
Noclevername Noclevername is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 11,111
Default

When we have conventional bombs that do almost as much damage as a tactical nuke, why would we risk earning the world's ire, by using one? Using a nuke would turn even our strongest allies 100% against us.
__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort
Reply With Quote
  #18 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 03:33 AM
Delvo Delvo is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,617
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Noclevername View Post
When we have conventional bombs that do almost as much damage as a tactical nuke, why would we risk earning the world's ire, by using one? Using a nuke would turn even our strongest allies 100% against us.
A MOAB is big enough for an explosion to look like a nuclear explosion to amateurs due to similar airflow effects (mushroom cloud), but the actual level of power is very different. Its power is equivalent to about a dozen tons of TNT, not a dozen or more kilotons like a tacnuc.
Reply With Quote
  #19 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 04:38 AM
Noclevername's Avatar
Noclevername Noclevername is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 11,111
Default

Still, it would be a rather pointless thing to do, and put us in everyone else's doghouse.
__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort
Reply With Quote
  #20 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 06:31 PM
Zachary Zachary is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: London
Posts: 400
Send a message via MSN to Zachary
Default

North Korea set off an incredibly wimpy nuke (500 tons?) and everybody in the world and their dog noticed, why would the US setting off a nuke be any different? A lot of nations have spy satellites flying around; if the US did set off a nuke half the industrialised nations on the planet would have to have been 'paid off' not to spill the beans.
__________________
"Bessie Braddock to Churchill "Winston, your drunk!"
Churchill: "Bessie, you're ugly, and tomorrow morning I shall be sober""

the solar system
Reply With Quote
  #21 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 09:25 PM
astromark's Avatar
astromark astromark is online now
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: New Zealand.
Posts: 3,477
Default

Be careful of this so called nuke strike... A well placed destruction of a nuke facility might leak some of its raw fuel maybe? ... Any indication of radioactive downwind readings as yet unfound... This is rubbish. The world is watching. When a journalist consults his key bd as a source of story, anything could be said. It does not make it so.
Reply With Quote
  #22 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 09:47 PM
PetersCreek's Avatar
PetersCreek PetersCreek is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Peters Creek, Alaska
Posts: 2,916
Default

Well, if it was a smaller tactical nuke...why the bomber? I've witnessed many an "elephant walk" of F-4Es taxiing for takeoff on a tactical nuke delivery exercise. I don't see why F-15s couldn't carry one to destroy a single target. Less resource intensive, don't ya think?
__________________
Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska
─────────────────────────────────────────────
My moderation comments will appear in this color.
To report a post (even this one) to the moderation team, click the reporting icon in the upper-right corner of the post:
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Rules For Posting To This Board ► ◄ Forum FAQs ► ◄ Conspiracy Theory Advice ► ◄ Alternate Theory Advice
Reply With Quote
  #23 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 09:56 PM
Count Zero's Avatar
Count Zero Count Zero is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 1,022
Default

seeing as I have seen photos of the site before the raid and after the syrians cleared the site, and there is a distinct lack of a crater, I would have to say that it seems that a nuke is quite unlikely.

No-no-no! The second bomb was used to blow-up the crater, destroying all evidence of the original attack. Isn't it obvious? [/glp]
__________________
"Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures - in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together." St. Exupery
Reply With Quote
  #24 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 11:03 PM
The_Radiation_Specialist's Avatar
The_Radiation_Specialist The_Radiation_Specialist is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,606
Send a message via Yahoo to The_Radiation_Specialist
Default

Maybe it was one of these
__________________
A slight inclination of the cranium is as adequate as a spasmodic movement of one optic towards an equinine quadruped utterly devoid of any visionary capacity.
Reply With Quote
  #25 (permalink)  
Old 03-November-2007, 11:13 PM
Jim's Avatar
Jim Jim is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Clear Lake City, TX
Posts: 4,485
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by PetersCreek View Post
Well, if it was a smaller tactical nuke...why the bomber? I've witnessed many an "elephant walk" of F-4Es taxiing for takeoff on a tactical nuke delivery exercise. I don't see why F-15s couldn't carry one to destroy a single target. Less resource intensive, don't ya think?
Why planes? Isn't this what cruise missiles are designed to do?

(FTR, I think this N-bomb thing is a bogus claim.)
__________________
Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
Isaac Asimov
Reply With Quote
  #26 (permalink)  
Old 04-November-2007, 01:55 AM
Krel Krel is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 411
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Radiation_Specialist View Post
Maybe it was one of these
That reminds me of a Charles Addams cartoon. An explorer is stepping into a jungle clearing, looking in shock at two ant hills. The hills are about six feet apart, from the hills are two converging armies. In the middle, where the two armies are meeting, there is a small mushroom cloud about three feet tall.

David.
Reply With Quote
  #27 (permalink)  
Old 04-November-2007, 06:37 AM
Noclevername's Avatar
Noclevername Noclevername is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 11,111
Default

Still no mention on the other "news" media.
__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort
Reply With Quote
  #28 (permalink)  
Old 05-November-2007, 03:41 AM
Delvo Delvo is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,617
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by PetersCreek View Post
Well, if it was a smaller tactical nuke...why the bomber? I've witnessed many an "elephant walk" of F-4Es taxiing for takeoff on a tactical nuke delivery exercise. I don't see why F-15s couldn't carry one to destroy a single target. Less resource intensive, don't ya think?
Notice that they didn't say "bombers"; they said "fighter-bombers". I was confuzzled by that at first, but then remembered that that was an old phrase for what are now called "attack" planes: designed for hitting ground targets like a bomber, but smaller, faster, and more maneuverable, like a fighter. The dedicatd "attack" class of plane was new once, in a world that already had fighters and bombers in it, so they described it in terms of what they were familiar with. The modern American attack plane is the A-10, named "Thunderbolt" or "Warthog". It's about the size of compact light fighters like F-16, F-18 (versions A-D), and F-35. The Arabic source probably just didn't know that such planes are now called "attack" planes in English. (They might still be called the equivalent of "fighter-bomber" in Arabic.)

I'm still not sure why there'd be only one such bomb apiece for multiple planes, though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim View Post
Why planes? Isn't this what cruise missiles are designed to do?
Most cruise missiles are not configured to carry nuclear warheads. Israel might not have any that are. I'm not even sure the USA does either; they might not exist at all.

Last edited by Delvo; 05-November-2007 at 04:33 AM..
Reply With Quote
  #29 (permalink)  
Old 05-November-2007, 07:15 AM
publius's Avatar
publius publius is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 6,531
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Delvo View Post

Most cruise missiles are not configured to carry nuclear warheads. Israel might not have any that are. I'm not even sure the USA does either; they might not exist at all.

There are many. As I understand, the cruise missile's original purpose was to carry nuclear weapons.

Here's one right here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-129...Cruise_Missile

That carries a W-80 "dial a yield" warhead.

The familiar Tomahawk is also nuclear capable, but I think that was eliminated with one of the nuclear treaties.

-Richard
Reply With Quote
  #30 (permalink)  
Old 05-November-2007, 07:26 AM
mfumbesi's Avatar
mfumbesi mfumbesi is offline
Established Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Pretoria, Afric'de Sud
Posts: 1,066
Default

I doubt that the USA will be dropping nukes on anyone soon.
Imagine the noises that will follow, UN, EU, AU....and other arbitrary bodies (yellow peace, Greenpeace).
Not even a mad dictator will get away with that.
__________________
This whole internet thing is probably not a passing fad.-Ronald Brak
While speech might be free, consequences cost.-Doodler
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Mlb mike alexander Off-Topic Babbling 209 05-November-2007 04:47 AM
Another prediction bites the dust pghnative Off-Topic Babbling 100 05-June-2007 01:56 PM
Apparently David Ray Griffiths is Going to Answer All Our Questions Architect Conspiracy Theories 19 08-January-2007 04:05 AM
Apparently, Even NASA's A Hoax! Tuckerfan Conspiracy Theories 28 02-July-2005 12:17 AM
Apparently the earth is collapsing? carolyn Against the Mainstream 18 11-June-2004 11:59 AM


All times are GMT. The time now is 08:13 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.0.0
©  2006 Bad Astronomy and Universe Today