'MUSHROOM CLOUD OVER LAS VEGAS': Comment causes a chain reaction

Mar. 31, 2006

'MUSHROOM CLOUD OVER LAS VEGAS': Comment causes a chain reaction

Official blasted for remarks about 700-ton explosion


snip...

The mushroom cloud image disturbed Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. She took to the House floor to sharply criticize Tegnelia for his comments.

"It's bad enough that we didn't get prior notice and ... obviously, the congressional delegation wasn't briefed, but the people of the state of Nevada haven't been briefed either," Berkley said.

As it turned out, Berkley and the other four members of the congressional delegation were notified about the planned explosion in a Dec. 19, 2005, letter from the National Nuclear Security Administration.

In addition, Nevada Department of Administration official Zosia Targosz said in a Jan. 9 letter to the NNSA's office in Las Vegas that "your proposal is not in conflict with state plans, goals or objectives."

Berkley spokesman David Cherry acknowledged Berkley was notified last year about the blast.

"But the notification did not include phrases like 'mushroom cloud over Las Vegas,' " Cherry said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued a statement calling Tegnelia's comments "irresponsible and inflammatory." Reid said he would press for a briefing from military officials.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., was traveling and could not be reached for comment. His spokesman, Jack Finn, said Ensign's staff have contacted officials at the test site and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Reps. Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter, both R-Nev., issued statements saying a report in November indicated there would not be a safety risk or adverse environmental impact from the test. They added they will continue to monitor the situation but raised no objection to the proposed explosion.

Tegnelia said the Russians have been told about the test.

more..

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Mar-31-Fri-2006/news/6638525.html

"Tegnelia said the test, called "Divine Strake," is part of an effort to develop weapons that can destroy underground bunkers storing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons....

Frank von Hippel, a Princeton University professor who served as an assistant director for national security during the Clinton administration, said the June test sounds similar to the Bush administration's abandoned plan to develop a nuclear bunker buster.

"If this is really being done to simulate a conventional weapon, I don't understand why they aren't using 20 tons (of explosives) instead of 700 tons," von Hippel said."


Now why would the US be interested in developing those kind of weapons? *cough*Iran*cough. Reminds me of Cheney's little plan to pre-emptively bomb Iran w/nuclear bunker-busters in the event of a terrorist attack. Abandoned a plan? When have they ever really abandoned a plan?