Your editorial on the movement of the nuclear-armed missiles was likely well-intentioned, but was misinformed, as has been much of the national press coverage of this event. I am the author of a book on Barksdale Air Force Base, I cover the military for a Shreveport-area newspaper, and I feel I have reported it as accurately as anyone can.
The missiles WERE being flown to be decommissioned as you said they OUGHT to have been, and in any event, the movement of these weapons, while not as frequent as during the 1960s and 1980s, still is a part of the assigned duties of the B-52 and B-2 bombers. It's what they were designed to do, and the statement by the elected official that this has "never happened before," if he is referring to such missiles being flown over the United States, is ludicrous. Moving them the way they were intended, houses in their missile fuselages and firmly mounted to their underwing pylons, is the safest means of transport, and also puts them at the least risk of being intercepted by terrorists or others who might wish to have them for whatever means.
Would you rather they be moved on a commercial flight or in a yellow moving truck? Get real!
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
