The Insidious Implications of the Missing Nukes

Robert Stormer, a retired lieutenant commander with the naval reserve and a specialist in weapons retrieval, has an alarming editorial published by the Houston Chronicle. Entitled "Nuke transportation story has explosive implications," the essay says the nukes were delivered "to an operational bomber base that just happens to be the staging area for Middle Eastern operations."

Stormer offers a list of questions that an investigation into this incident needs to answer. Here are a few:

1 Why, and for what ostensible purpose, were these nuclear weapons taken to Barksdale? . . .

6 How many other nuclear command and control non-observations of procedure have there been? . . .

8 How does this incident relate to concern for reliability of control over nuclear weapons and nuclear materials in Russia, Pakistan and elsewhere?

9 Does the Bush administration, as some news reports suggest, have plans to attack Iran with nuclear weapons?