B-52s to target NT bombing ranges

[apothecary]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1510211.htm

The United States will start regular bomber aircraft training in northern Australia in the new year.

At the annual ministerial talks between the US and Australia it was announced that the strategic bomber training program would involve B-52 and B-1 bombers and the B-2 stealth aircraft.

Defence Minister Robert Hill says the planes will fly from the major US base on the Pacific island of Guam.

"It may be aircraft that come down to Australia from a considerable distance and use our bombing ranges and then return without landing," he said.

"There will also be occasions when the aircraft will land and utilise facilities at Darwin.

"We think it's just another example in which we can be helpful to our ally".

The joint communique says that using Australia for bomber training is part of the rebalancing of US military forces in the Asia-Pacific region.

Greens Senator Bob Brown is angry about the deal.

"The Australian Government, more and more, is allowing the Americans to view this country as the 51st state," he said.

The ministers also announced further upgrades to the Shoalwater Bay training area in Queensland for joint training.

[Legba]

Wow! th sharpies'll be havin fun chasin those B1's and B2's :D

i guess in th spirit of christmas, our bi brother wants to show our neighbours how far away he can toss over someone from. in th spirit of th old cold war...i mean fight against ....er...th bunch of willing? wateva

:ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r: ...comin to save the day.

[Rev]

another giveaway to the REAL agenda of this so called WOT

all this anti sedition, preventative detention, secret police atste crap has nothing to do with terrorism

Its all an excuse to pare down our civil liberties and close our society for the upcoming Sino-american war of 2016, the real WW3

in the meantime well see some skirmishes with Iran and syria

but China is the big target

the inevitable reason being the monetary imbalance that is once again being created

china is again a manufacturing powerhouse briunging raw materials in shipping consumer goods out while not buying in western manufactured goods

like in the 18th century when the east west trade bankrupted britain and it had to go to war with china - using opium - typical british underhandedness

The US is far more blatant than that

thats option A anyway

Option B is the US collapses before then

which would be nicer

Edited November 18, 2005 by Rev

[Agamemnon]

Yes, it seems we are the de facto next state of Amerika. The new IR laws are an adjunct to this as well with the added intention of destroying organised unions. Couple that with the new sedition laws and it becomes apparent who's template is being copied : hint - (the biggest terrorist State in the world).

Since the Monroe Doctrine (and maybe we can go back to the original settlement of America), pre-emptive wars are the norm for the Americans. from Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba to Korea, Vietnam, Central and South America to Libya, Sudan and now Iraq. The list goes on. I don't think US Govts have ever had a genuine commitment to peace. When there was a war that had to be fought against an imperialist agressor (ie World War II), the Americans had to be dragged into it kicking and screaming.

[occidentalis]

For all those interested in US target practice taking place in Australia, I suggest you try and see a new doco called 'Blowin in the wind' about use of depleted uranium munitions and their potential health and environmental effects. It was showing here last week so perhaps some people can still catch it. Very disturbing.

[ShiningPlain]

Blowin' in the Wind

By: Evan Shapiro

Wednesday 26 October 2005

When you leave the cinema after seeing David Bradbury's new documentary Blowin' in the Wind it's hard not to be enraged. While working on a documentary exploring the use of depleted uranium in US weaponry, David Bradbury discovered that a 20-year agreement was signed last year between the United States and Australia, the specific terms of which are secret, but which allows the US military to train and test its latest weapons in Australia.

Bradbury first explored the issue of depleted uranium while attending a conference at the University of Hamburg in October 2003. While there, he met whistle-blower scientists and nuclear experts, as well as doctors who had worked at Basra Hospital in Iraq. They provided him with evidence and their personal testimonies, including explicit photos and documentation detailing the occurrence of severe birth defects around the areas where depleted uranium had been used, beginning some six months after the end of the first Gulf War (1991).

Depleted uranium is a by-product of the enriched uranium processing that occurs in reactors. It is called 'depleted' because it no longer has a high concentration of the uranium isotopes that make 'enriched' uranium highly radioactive. Rather than being disposed of safely, however, depleted uranium is being 're-purposed' by the United States military and uses it to cap shells because it is one of the densest metals known. Its armour piercing capabilities are unparalleled and it generates so much heat after impact that it incinerates. Shoot a depleted-uranium-capped shell into a tank and it not only penetrates but it also burns it up, along with everyone inside.

What happens next is where it gets very scary. The depleted uranium's radioactive particles don't just stay, impassive, at the point of impact – depending on the circumstances, they can easily move into the lower and upper atmosphere. So, while an area of about 30 kilometres around the point of impact is most directly affected by fallout, effectively, a depleted-uranium-capped shell fired in Iraq, the Balkans, or Afghanistan can result in radioactive particles being carried anywhere in the world, via winds in the upper atmosphere.

The radioactive half-life of depleted uranium is around 4.5 billion years and what makes it so insidious is that the micro-particles are so small they are easily breathed into lungs. The body has no way to break down the radioactive intruder and exposure usually leads to lung cancer. Those affected also have children with a higher than normal incidence of severe birth defects and cancers.

We may believe that our relaxed and comfortable haven of Australia is unaffected, but thanks to our complacency there could be radioactive particles coming our way in the next downpour. The irony compounds, given it is our own yellow cake that is partly to blame. Australia supplies one third of the world's uranium. Strange that we will not sell uranium to China, or allow the Chinese to develop a uranium mine in Australia until we have guarantees that none of it will end up in weapons, when we don't have the same agreement with the US or other countries that are virtually giving away their nuclear waste?

The 20-year agreement we do have with the US, however, allows for weapons testing in Australia without Environmental Impact Surveys (EIS) before or afterwards. And US Navy ships recently involved in joint forces operations in Western Australia were carrying depleted uranium munitions.

The US is testing in Shoalwater Bay near Rockhampton, Queensland. This is a pristine area twice the size of Sydney and suburbs, packed with biodiversity. It is a crossover zone between tropical, subtropical and temperate zones that is rare in Australia. Bradbury has discovered that under the secret treaty the US will undertake 'smart bomb' testing as part of its new 'Son of Star Wars' missile defence system.

oint forces operations between US and Australian troops commenced in June this year. Between now and 2007 there will be exercises of various sizes involving up to 30,000 US military personnel, ship-to-shore and aerial bombardment. They will involve warships including aircraft carriers, submarines, and destroyers (all nuclear powered) sailing around and through the Great Barrier Reef. And we won't know what heavy metals or other carcinogens will be used in these exercises.

Given what the US has done when testing weapons in other parts of the world, we should be gravely concerned. For instance, in Vieques, Puerto Rico cancer rates amongst kids 11 years to 19 years is 256 per cent higher than on surrounding islands where there are no US bases. There are similar toxic nightmares in former US bases in Japan and the Philippines, which will take hundreds of years to clean up. This is what makes Canberra's secret agreement so alarming. The US is exempt not only from EIS but from any Australia law.

David Bradbury is an Australian with an international reputation as a film maker. He has been nominated twice for Academy Awards for his documentaries Frontline and Chile: Hasta Cuando?. And his other documentaries include Public Enemy Number One, South of the Border and State of Shock.

Bradbury is a no-nonsense film maker. He doesn't go in for flash graphics or recreations. While Blowin' in the Wind was made on a tiny budget of just $12,000, it packs a great deal of punch into its 62 minutes.

Blowin' in the Wind is being released by Dendy Films on 27 October.

About the author

Evan Shapiro is a writer, film maker and critic, broadcasting weekly on the 'Celluloid Dreams' program on 2SER.

http://www.newmatilda.com/home/articledeta...&HomepageID=110

don't worry about the bird flu. worry about this!

[ShiningPlain]

nobody concerned about this?????

[teonanacatl]

radon is apparently thebiggest killer after smokes. radon 222 forms from the breakdown of uranium 238 and itself has a halflife of 3.8 days breaks down to form 218 Po (3.1minutes) and then 214Pb. as uranium is present in granites people with granite in their houses breath in radon which ends up as lead in the lungs, not good. why doesnt the US bomb their own pristine landscape, oh wait its probably all gone. fuck them.