Fw: US Uses Bomb Like 'Small Thermo-Nuclear Device'

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

 From: Kim Scipes <sscipe1 at ICARUS.CC.UIC.EDU>
 Subject:      US Uses Bomb Like 'Small Thermo-Nuclear Device'
 To: LABOR-L at YORKU.CA


http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/11/07/wmil0
7.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/11/07/ixhome.html


 US drops the weapon that packs an 'atomic' punch
 By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
 (Filed: 07/11/2001)


 AMERICA has stepped up the pressure on the Taliban
 using bombs with the same destructive force as a small
 thermo-nuclear device.



 The 15,000lb BLU-82, or Daisy-Cutter high-blast bomb,
 the world's largest conventional device, was developed
 during the Vietnam War. The Americans are thought to
 have used only one of the devices so far against the
 Taliban.

 It is so large that it is normally dropped from a C130
 transport aircraft. A 4ft-long detonation rod, which
 emerges from the 17ft-long bomb after it is dropped,
 releases a cloud of inflammable ammonium nitrate,
 aluminium dust and polystyrene slurry.

 This is then ignited by a second detonator, scorching
 the surrounding area, consuming oxygen and creating a
 shock wave and vacuum pressure that destroys the
 internal organs of anyone within range. The bomb has
 the ability to clear a three-mile path through a
 minefield.

 Like the B52 bombers dropping "long sticks" of bombs,
 commonly described as carpet bombing, the Daisy Cutter
 was used to great effect against Iraq's Republican
 Guard during the Gulf war.

 During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the
 Russians developed a hand-held launcher to fire
 similar bombs into the caves of the Mujahideen, who
 called it the "Satan Stick".

 Its use against the Taliban frontlines coincides with
 an escalation of attacks on the caves and tunnels
 where Osama bin Laden and his terrorist colleagues are
 thought to hide.

 The increased number of special forces on the ground
 has provided better intelligence allowing the US
 aircraft to attack the caves, Donald Rumsfeld, US
 defence secretary, said on his way back from a visit
 to the region.

 Russia has also provided intelligence on the caves
 that were used by the Afghan forces and the mujahideen
 during the Soviet occupation, defence officials said.

 The bombing also includes the use of the 5,000lb
 GBU-28 "Deep Throat" bunker-buster which burrows down
 through as much as 20ft of rock before exploding
 inside the cave. Its "smart" fuse can tell the
 difference between rock, concrete, earth and air.


 The Northern Alliance said yesterday that its forces
 had captured three northern towns during pre-dawn
 bombing raids.
 "We attacked while the Americans were bombing," said
 Ashraf Nadeem, a spokesman. "It was not only us who
 killed. It was mostly the Americans."

 He said 200 Taliban fighters died. Despite the claims,
 the Alliance has yet to make a significant advance on
 the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif.