The USAF B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber: “An Instrument of Peace”…

"Protecting the Lives of Libyan Civilians"

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, April 09, 2011
9 April 2011
Theme:
In-depth Report:

Deployed to Libya on March 19, this is the weapon which is meant to save civilian lives in Libya. The B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber.

The B-2 Spirit aircraft is described as “deadly and effective’ yet at the same time it is upheld as an instrument  of “humanitarian warfare”.

Used at the outset of Operation Odyssey Dawn, this aircraft has the mandate under UN Security Councill resolution 1973 to   “protect the lives of civilians”.

See the following video to see how this aircraft “save the lives of civilians”: 

Northrop Grumman Video Clip on the B-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcX9LbR4pqc 


“Humanitarian war” is carried out through a “Shock and Awe” Blitzkrieg.

Three B-2 Spirit Stealth bombers were sent on a bombing mission at the very outset of the Libya bombing campaign. According to the reports, they returned to Whiteman Air Force base on March 21st. The reports suggest that the three B-2s were carrying bunker buster bombs with conventional warheads.

“Three B-2 Spirit bombers, piloted by two men each, made it back after the 11,418-mile round trip from the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri – where they are kept in special hangars – to Libya, where they hit targets on forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi and back again.”(Libya-crisis-B2-stealth-bombers-25-hour-flight-Missouri-Tripoli, Daily Mail, March 21, 2011)

The report suggests that the B-2 Stealth bombers dropped 45 one ton satellite guided missiles on Libya, which represents an enormous amount of ordnance: “At $2.1bn, they are the most expensive warplanes in the world and rarely leave their climate-controlled hangars. But when it does, the B-2 bomber makes a spectacularly effective start to a war – including during this weekend’s aerial attack on Libya’s air defences. (Daily Mail, March 21, 2011, op cit)  

While we are not in a position to verify the accuracy of these reports, the 45 one-ton bombs correspond roughly to the B-2 specifications, namely each of these planes can carry sixteen 2,000 pound (900 kg) bombs.

“An assessment published by the USAF showed that two B-2s armed with precision weaponry can do the job of 75 conventional aircraft. That makes it a powerful weapon to strike targets including bunkers, command centres, radars, airfields, air defences.” The mission is said to have have dropped  a total of 45 one ton satellite guided missiles, which broadly corresponds to the 15 out of the 16 2000 pound bombs mentioned above.(The Daily Mail,  March 21, 2011).

The B-2 Spirit is also a carrier of the B61-11 nuclear bomb, equipped to deliver 16 B61-11 mini-nukes of about 1,200 lb (540 kg), each of which has an explosive capacity of two thirds of a Hiroshima bomb.   

See also:

Military PR videoclip on the B-2 
The B-2 was brought down by the Yugoslav air defense system in 1999, which the video does not mention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-yYHdlkn2o&NR=1

Returning to Whiteman Air force base on March 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhw2yoFb7fs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVpzHAWR85g  


RELATED ARTICLE


Dangerous Crossroads: Is America Considering the Use of Nuclear Weapons against Libya?
PART II
– by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky – 2011-04-07

The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2011

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Articles by: Prof Michel Chossudovsky

About the author:

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research. He has undertaken field research in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific and has written extensively on the economies of developing countries with a focus on poverty and social inequality. He has also undertaken research in Health Economics (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UNFPA, CIDA, WHO, Government of Venezuela, John Hopkins International Journal of Health Services (1979, 1983) He is the author of 13 books including The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003), America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005), The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity (2015). He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO’s war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]

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