BRAC poll

[AmericanErrorist]

Poll question: BRAC poll

Would you be in favor or against any North Dakota air base being on the BRAC list?

[ltfranklin]

1. The Brak List?

[CatholicEdHead]

2. Fargo or Grand Forks will loose their base?

I figure Minot is safe with all the nukes they still control in the central and western part of the state. How will they try to screw over Conrad to give Hoeven a break?

[Qanisqineq]

3. I wasn't sure what this whole BRAC thing was until I found this

on Dorgan's website: http://dorgan.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=237333

BRAC ANNOUNCEMENT SCHEDULED FOR MID-MORNING THIS FRIDAY, MAY 13


(WASHINGTON, DC) --- Senators Byron Dorgan, Kent Conrad and Congressman Earl Pomeroy today announced the Pentagon has informed their offices that it will release its list of military bases recommended for closure or consolidation sometime during the mid-morning of this Friday, May 13.

The delegation said members of Congress were told the list of bases given to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission will be posted on the web site: www.defenselink.mil/brac sometime Friday morning, and will be announced at a press conference the public can view online at www.pentagonchannel.mil.

The delegation has been pressing hard throughout the last year to make the case that North Dakota’s three major military installations—the Minot Air Force Base, the Grand Forks Air Force Base, and the Air National Guard Base in Fargo—are among the nation’s best and should remain open. They have met with all of the key Pentagon officials involved in the BRAC process to promote the top-notch performance and unique military capabilities of each base.

“Soon we will have the Defense Department’s list of bases recommended for closure,” the delegation said in a joint statement. “We have left no stone unturned in our effort to make the case that North Dakota’s military installations are clearly among the best in nation.”

[Jr_Samples]

4. Politics and Nukes

Ellsworth, the B-1B base in South Dakota, is slotted for closure. This detail is both political and scary.

It's political because of the Tom Daschle defeat last year. The guy who beat him, Thune (R - Rat bastard) PROMISED he'd protect the base during this year's BRAC. He narrowly beat Daschle, and all the Repugnicans were rejoicing in how big a victory it was to have the Senate Minority leader voted out of office.

So, even if Thune gets Ellsworth AFB removed from the list the damage is done. But WE have to rub it in. Anyone who has a web site, or calls into a show about BRAC, or engages in water-cooler jabber about it shoudl keep it in mind. We have to pound this point in - the Senator with the "important" victory over Daschle can't even secure his state's biggest military asset.

Now for the scary part. Ellsworth is only one of two bases used for the B-1B bomber (the other is Dyess in Texas). Hence, the DOD is willing to place all its B-1B eggs in one basket. The B-52, on the other hand, a beast nearly a half century older than the B-1B, isn't being touched by the BRAC. Both B-52 bases (Barksdale, LA, and Minot, ND) are to remain intact.

Why is this scary? Well, according to the START II treaty, the B-1B can not carry nuclear weapons. (http://www.thebulletin.org/article_nn.php?art_ofn=jf99norris) But the B-52 can.

So, Rumsfeld et al would apparently rather keep a 50-year old nuclear-capable dinosaur around and downsize our fleet of the much more modern, but non-nuclear, B-1B. We can all draw our own conclusions from that.

According to "The Book 2005 Airman Magazine" we currently have 93 B-52s in the Active and Reserve Air Force. The same publication says we have 67 B-1B's.