Taiwan Gets US Nuke Components

[rpm]

link

The U.S. military mistakenly shipped four fuses for nuclear missiles to Taiwan in 2006 and never caught the error, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, acknowledging an incident likely to rile China.

The military was supposed to ship helicopter batteries to Taiwan, but instead sent fuses used as part of the trigger mechanism on Minuteman missiles. The problem went unnoticed until Taiwan realized it did not have the helicopter batteries it ordered and reported the issue to the United States, U.S. officials said.

What led to the fuse shipment is still unclear, Henry and Wynne said. The Pentagon also does not yet know who was responsible.

The fuses, which send an electronic signal to the device that starts the nuclear weapon's trigger process, are among a class of sensitive equipment that must be accounted for on a quarterly basis.

Based on the information now known, the four fuses, which do not resemble helicopter batteries, were wrongly placed in an unclassified storage area. They were then shipped in late 2006 to Taiwan.

I feel so much safer with Bush in charge of our WMD.

[john9001]

what bush are you talking about? frank bush that works in shipping and receiving?

[AKIron]

Now we just need to send them the rest of the components so they can take care of China driving up oil prices. 

[DrDea]

Bush is just trying to level up the field after Klin Ton sent the Chinese that Nuke info

[Ripsnort]

For you guys playing Bush Bash Bingo, the number is "1". Good luck!

[DieAz]

what are the odds the components came from Taiwan in the first place?

[Shamus]

Its Pelosi's fault 

shamus

Edit: Dang, just noticed..it was in 2006....its still Pelosi's fault!!!!!!

[Toad]

what are the odds the components came from Taiwan in the first place?

This is probably the best comment so far! Too bad it may well be true!

[rpm]

For you guys playing Bush Bash Bingo, the number is "1". Good luck!

For those playing Bury Your Head In The Sand, the number is R4. That's R4.

[dmf]

link

I feel so much safer with Bush in charge of our WMD.

Which Bush? the one in the white house was told about the problem AFTER the fact, so he had no knowledge of it happening at all.

But it does make me wonder if the  shipping and recieveing guys passed their last drug test.

[Coshy]

How in the world did you make the leap of logic and connect mis-shipped fuses with Bush?

What you should be MORE concerned about is how 4-8 quarterly inventories of sensitive equipment failed to notice the missing fuses. What comes to my mind is "If they missed 4 fuses 8 times in the last couple years, what else is missing?"

[rpm]

Exactly Coshy. In this post 9/11 Patriot Act America, it seems we are no safer than we were.

I made the Bush leap the same way others make the Clinton leap. You have to admit after years of playing the fear card stuff like this shows us they were no better than any other administration. They just had a better ad campaign.

[Ripsnort]

Exactly Coshy. In this post 9/11 Patriot Act America, it seems we are no safer than we were.

I made the Bush leap the same way others make the Clinton leap. You have to admit after years of playing the fear card stuff like this shows us they were no better than any other administration. They just had a better ad campaign.

[Mr No Name]

I say give Taiwan allllllllllll they need, the damned commies on the mainland are building a navy to invade them.  If I were president, they'd have a bigger bag of tricks than felix the cat!

[Jackal1]

Electronic fuses. Man am I frightened.