U.S. approves full new warhead production

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050824/pl_nm/arms_usa_warhead_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has approved full-rate production of a new Hellfire missile variant, touted by
President George W. Bush for its ability to kill guerrillas in urban settings, the missile's manufacturer said on Wednesday.

U.S. commanders in Iraq have asked for more of the rounds, said Lt. Col. Kevin Curry, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, who added that early versions had already been used there in "limited numbers." More than 1,870 Americans have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

The "thermobaric" Hellfire AGM-114N warhead creates an intense, sustained pressure wave that can strike around corners in "caves, bunkers and hardened multi-room complexes," the manufacturer, Lockheed Martin Corp., said.

Unlike conventional warheads, which unleash a sharp pressure spike that decays quickly, the thermobaric round includes a highly flammable, fluorinated aluminum powder to make its explosion push harder and last longer.

[Im_Your_Huckleberry]

1. works great on women and babies, too.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Yes! More weapons! Not enough are dying!

Those "hyperbaric" devices are a new and thouroughly barbaric way of totally destroying your enemy, incinerating everyone within an enclosed space.

Good guys and bad guys, both. Let God sort 'em out!

[Roland99]

3. Don't you know he's carrying out the work of God?

Leviticus 6:66 - Thou shalt smite thine enemies with the most horrible of weapons. Let it pass that the innocent shall die so that the enemy may be destroyed.

[alfredo]

11. About that

scripture quote. I tried to find it so I can see it in context, and I found that it doesn't exist.

[Roland99]

12. You must report to the Citizen Bible Center & obtain your corrected Bible.

[alfredo]

19. Should I take a

sandwich?

[Canuckistanian]

13. Hmm, Leviticus 6:66, how fitting

The most violent of Chapters in the Bible and the most ominous of numbers.

[Roland99]

14. Maybe I should have added the :sarcasm: tag

;)

[Canuckistanian]

15. I know, i know

If you had said "Leviticus 9:11", however....

[Roland99]

16. Damn...yeah...that would have been better

;)


hmmm

"11: The flesh and the skin he burned with fire outside the camp. "

:o

[Canuckistanian]

17. Spooky, eh?

[Roland99]

18. .

:scared:

[deminks]

4. I have not heard that phrase in a long time

"let God sort them out." I remember hearing that phrase a lot here in Red Amurika right after 9/11. Figures Bushco would take the phrase and run with it.

[Strelnikov_]

5. Essentially An FAE - Fuel Air Explosive

Used extensively by the Russians in leveling Grozny.

Civilians who happen to be in the vicinity when one of these goes off are, of course, just terraists in disguise.

On Edit:

MARINE CORPS EYES PORTABLE THERMOBARIC WARHEAD FOR URBAN OPS
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2002/020826-thermobaric.htm

. . .

Thermobaric weapons are fuel-rich explosives that suck air from its target, creating a lethal combination of heat and pressure that burns longer than conventional explosives. The weapons are effective on hardened, underground facilities, which are among the most difficult targets to eliminate.

. . .

Moreover, a similar weapon employed by the Russians during battles in Chechnya resulted in the unintentional deaths of many civilians. Thermobaric weapons have been reported as causing crushing injuries such as concussions, collapsed lungs, internal hemorrhaging and eardrum ruptures. The warhead has “caught the public's imagination,” Pike said, leading many to call it inhumane.

“As it stands, these thermobaric weapons have generated a fair amount of public misunderstanding, and have been made out to be a peculiarly horrible means of killing people,” Pike told ITN last week. “If it turned out that in practice the primary effect was indeed incendiary, there might be some problems under the international laws of armed conflict.”

. . .

Flamethrowers and incendiary grenades are currently illegal under the Geneva Conventions when used on civilians, civilian property or on military targets near civilian populations. Bowers dismissed the comparison of thermobaric arms to flame weapons, saying the media has misrepresented the weapon. It is “not a fuel-air explosive,” he said, which works by igniting a volatile fuel or explosive powder.

. . .

I don't know much, but I would say a bomb that contains "highly flammable, fluorinated aluminum powder to make its explosion push harder and last longer" sure AS HELL sounds like an FAE per Maj. Bowers definition.

[wli]

6. Must be Bushler's next crowd control weapon. n/t

[daleo]

7. I detect a note of sarcasm by the writer

"touted by President George W. Bush for its ability to kill guerrillas in urban settings".

I hope it is sarcasm anyway.

[thecrow]

20. The Chimp has always hated them gorillas...n/t

[lvx35]

8. "U.S. approves full new terrorist production"

great, so it gets the people hiding, the people nearby better around corners...Ensuring lots of dead women and children and, thus more people willing to martyr themselves against us for killing their innocent family when they weren't against us before. Sounds like Bush would love it!

[Beam Me Up]

9. WMD

Need I say more?

[coffeenap]

10. thermobarbaric...