Iran may have the weapons-grade uranium out of three nuclear warheads dumped out of a B-52 back in 1991. Or so at least the US government might have some reason to believe, according to a seemingly well-informed person talking to CounterPunch last week.
On February 3, 1991, this particular B-52G had been deployed to circle around Baghdad. It was armed with 3 SRAM missiles armed with nuclear warheads and fitted with rocket drives to push them 100 miles to the rear of the B-52 before detonating.
The B-52 was heading off to refuel when it developed very serious electrical problems, including the loss of navigational equipment.
Hoping to limp back to base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the crew were heading the plane south just off the coast of Somalia when fires in five of the engines threatened to detonate the heat sensitive fuse mechanisms of the SRAMS. Thinking they would plummet into deep water the crew dumped the nuclear bombs, and the B-52 crashed not long thereafter. Some members of the crew died, others survived and were picked up.
But, our informant tells us, the warheads in fact landed in shallow water, on Somalia's continental shelf. Three months later, in mid-May of 1991, they were allegedly retrieved and passed into the hands of an arms dealer involved in other covert transactions in Somalia at the time.
The dimension of each warhead was 30" x 18" x 18", weighing 560 pounds. Because of sea-water contamination only the weapons grade uranium would be usable, either in a "dirty" bomb, or as the warhead for a new missile.
As the three warheads entered international arms-smuggling loops, the Bush-One and subsequently Clinton administrations dispatched various covert units to recover them, with no success.
As possible substantiation that the warheads may have ended up in Iran, CounterPunch's informant cites a hour-long BBC-TV Channel-2 documentary, broadcast on May 3, 2005,titled "Iran's Nuclear Secrets" in which they showed their TV-cameraman with UN weapons inspectors in Iran.
During those searches the inspectors found radiation traces in rooms left by the previous presence of weapons-grade uranium, with an enrichment of 40% to 60%.
The BBC program suggested that as local enrichment had not started then the Iranians must have held non-local black-Market material. The BBC concluded that with this material Iran was already perceived as a threat by Israel and the Scott Ritter's forecasted raids were a likely possibility.
If the US or Israel does launch an aerial attack on the suspected depository of the three warheads, or of uranium from them, the consequences could be lethal in more ways than one, if a "bunker busting " raid simply dispersed the nuclear materials into the atmosphere, with unpleasant consequences for all in the wind path.
Vice President Cheney, recently linked to speculation that he is eager to use any future 9/11 type attack in the US as a pretext to attack Iran, was Secretary of Defense back in 1991.
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