Kucinich to Bush: Use Russian Tanker To Fight California Fire

[Mairead]

(original headline redakted to fit)
Kucinich Calls On President Bush To Use Russian Tanker To Fight California Fires

In Letter Kucinich Calls on President To Clear Bureaucratic Hurdles
To Allow Use Of Worlds Largest, Fastest, Long Range Waterbomber

Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), Ranking Member of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, today, sent a letter to President Bush requesting the President clear “bureaucratic steps” and accept an offer by the Russian government for use of their Ilyushin-76 Waterbomber aircrafts to fight the California wildfire. The letter states: “Because of Administration inaction, a critical fire-fighting tool - the world’s largest air tanker, capable of dropping water on an area of 12 football fields - is sitting idle. If only the Administration took the necessary bureaucratic steps, the effort to extinguish the fires in California could receive a potentially decisive advantage. “The Ilyushin-76 Waterbomber aircraft is the world’s largest, fastest, longest range, highest volume air-tanker. It is capable of carrying either 100,000 or 135,000 pounds of liquid and can be filled and ready for takeoff in 15 minutes. It is capable of depositing four times the water volume of the C-130 tanker. “The Russian Federation has offered the planes with trained crews on a humanitarian basis. According to the American representative of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, once granted the necessary permission, the Waterbomber aircraft could be at work putting out fires in California within 24 hours.

“My hope is that your personal attention may counteract the lack of initiative demonstrated by your administration up to this point, {emphaisis mine} and that these massive cargo planes may be enlisted to save California from further damage.”

The letter dated today, October 30, 2003, was sent via facsimile to the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.

[rjbcar27]

1. Asking the Ruskies for help?

Not on your nellie.

[Noordam]

2. Picture and Duh Bushie....

Services Offered Through
Global Emergency Response

Global Emergency Response is a comprehensively integrated IL-76 aircraft emergency service complete with spares and a certified-qualified EMERCOM crew of eight (8) for global fire fighting and other disaster and humanitarian relief missions.

Where missions are seasonal in nature please contact Global Emergency Response to discuss the details related to your needs
..... cut...

http://www.desastres.org/ger/experience.htm

"In August, 1998, EMERCOM's Ilyushin-76 participated with firefighters from 5 different countries in dealing with Greece's worst fire season in a century. Brought in when huge blazes were unable to be contained with other equipment, fires close to a village in Aitoloakarnania, in western Greece, and near Marathon Lake, close to Athens, saving precious forest quickly under control."
....cut....

[0007]

3. Save your breath Dennis -

junior ran from his duties and went AWOL in the 60's and junior is AWOL now while California burns.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. Remember Hurricane Andrew? Poppy was AWOL for that one until...

...a local EMA went on national television and blasted the delay. I don't think Poppy responded for close to a week, and then tried to blame Florida for not requesting the aid in a timely manner (a request that Florida had indeed made within 24 hours).

Being AWOL must be normal within that clan.

[calimary]

25. Junior was AWOL awhile ago when Gray Davis asked for help

in thinning the diseased trees in and around Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear, to PREVENT just such a disaster as this. Bush turned him down. Thanks again, george. Rot in hell, fucker.

[Melsky]

4. We are too proud to do that

besides, I really don't think bush gives a damn. If they can get enough people to somehow blame this on davis, I'm sure they would see the fires as a good thing.

[Racenut20]

5. But if they put the fires OUT !!!!

They couldn't pass the logging bill.

[truthisfreedom]

6. freaking bizarre.

who woulda thunk the russians would have a flying firefighting tanker that big.

so what was it originally designed to deliver?

[Noordam]

7. Well the US Forest Service has tested it.

Data From US Forest Service Test Drop
Empty weight: 88 tons
VAP-2: 4.5 tons (taken from 8,800 gallon tankage weight which assumes no appreciable increase in weight for added volume)
Basic operating weight: 92.5 tons
Fuel: 42.5 tons (full)
Retardant load: 6.12 tons
http://www.desastres.org/ger/other.htm

[Beaker]

14. Ummm- firefighting liquids

They do have forests and forest fires in Russia, too.

[leesa]

16. Why wouldn't they? They have fires too.

Time to graduate from the phony anti-communism mind-set. That was the last bogus 'war' to sell armaments.

[number six]

19. It's a cargo plane

You're not getting any weapons in there. Plus it's too slow to be an effective bomber.

[Fovea]

27. Consider...

Huge country with shitty roads, a core rail system that stretches something like a fifth of the way around the globe, through some of the least hospitable terrain in the world.

They need all the heavy hauling they can get. I believe they were also experimenting with Lighter than Air haulers for lumber and such in the 70's.

Some Russians I know drool over the idea of someday having high speed rail from Europe to China. They and I agree that China is making a massively stupid drive to promote the automobile as personal transportation. But that is what is driving the policy goals of PNAC-- Supplying that demand.

[rppper]

30. troops, tanks....like our C5 galaxy....

the C130 has the same military duty.....these are just huge cargo aircraft with a big cell for water or fuel or whatever.....

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Speechless!

Just slackjawed speechless that they'd let California burn before they'd take Russian help.

Left coasters should be screaming about this and storming the walls.

[Tommy_Douglas]

17. I'm not surprised in the least.

Bush asked the world for help after 9-11 and we believed him. Then we discovered help meant towing the line and asorbing the cost of PNAC policies.

Bush would sooner see Americans die and have their homes burn then accept help from "old Europe"

[Mairead]

20. The problem is--who's reporting that Kucinich is demanding this?

Nobody, I bet.

[wheresthemind]

10. Dennis is amazing!

Everything he says ends up being right...

Universal healthcare...

NO Iraq-9/11 link

NO reson for Iraq war!

The forsight not to sell Muny Light!

Patriot Act!

::sigh::

GO GO DENNIS

[dbt]

11. So we SUDDENLY have a problem with using a Russian jet?

Funny. That didn't seem to be the case back in 2001 when two big-ass Antonov 124s brought back the US EP-3 spy plane that was forced down over China. Surely you remember the incident and how bu$h was not going to apologize?

"The impasse ended only after Washington said it was 'very sorry' that the Chinese pilot had died and the American plane had landed without permission."

Read more about the use of these Russian planes from the liberal, biased BBC.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[beyurslf]

12. Why don't we have a plane

that size? Surely we have more forest fire problems than Russia.

I would think the neo cons would be up in arms that they have a toy that is bigger than ours.

[TheLastMohican]

13. You'll be surprised but Ukraine and Russia posses an even bigger plane

Antonov 225 "Mriya"



That baby can lift a tank company in the air.


This is the biggest one in the world and flew already several flights from Kyiv, Ukraine

An-124 "Ruslan" is just the biggest currently operational for commercial use as cargo carrier.

[Beaker]

15. Whoa!

that landing gear is awesome.

[Mairead]

21. Astonishing to think of a QUARTER-MILLION-KILO payload

Over a half-million pounds in payload. No wonder they only ever built one of them.

[A HERETIC I AM]

32. The 225 was originally designed to carry the Russian Space Shuttle

on it's back, like the 747 that carries NASA's shuttle. aircraft that large are impractable to use in fire fighting because they cant climb or turn fast enough. The plane mentioned at the top of this thread is about as big as is usable in that application. We have several aircraft of comparable size and lifting capability. The C-141 Starlifter, the relatively new C-17 Globemaster and of course, the Air Forces largest airlifter, the C-5 Galaxy.

[Tommy_Douglas]

18. Its not a war toy...

So neo-cons don't care.

Plus Russia is pretty big and either has (had) a lot of forests. I don't know how much they've cut down. Enviromentally Russia is a mess from all accounts.

[TrogL]

22. It would never work in that terrain

It's just too damn big to be flying near any sort of terrain that doesn't resemble the top of a billiard table. To do an effective water drop, you've got to be damn close to the fire. With all those mountains and hills, it would be flying so high as to be pretty much useless.

[Mairead]

24. Greece is pretty hilly too, and it worked superbly there

[DeathvadeR]

26. your right, Would be difficult in some situations but at least try damn it

I'm sure it could find a place to help somewhere.

[govegan]

23. Yes, Dennis is clearly right again.

Or should I say "correct"?

Too bad the criminals in the White House are too busy hunting for oil in Iraq to be bothered with something so "trivial" as wildfires in California.

What value is human life and personal property compared to riches for cronies and fat campaign contributions?

"War is an attempt of one group to impose its will upon another group by armed violence,but war has wider implications. War offers those in power a chance to rid themselves of opposition while covering up their designs with patriotic slogans."

"War drags human beings from their tasks of building and improving, and pushes them en masse into the category of destroyers and killers."

--Scott Nearing

[Nottingham]

28. Kucinich is Brilliant

:bounce:

[dpbrown]

29. ALWAYS seeking the pragmatic solution!

I love that man.

Kucinich: Better Ideas, Better Candidate - it's just that simple

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[eridani]

31. Yep. Still doing his fulltime job in Congress

--(unlike a few awol congresscritter candidates I could name) while running a presidential primary campaign at the same time.