Airheads

There's a few things the federal government is supposed to do for us citizens. One of them is putting together a military that can protect us from international foes that want to do us harm. The Bush administration record on this issue is sorely lacking. The latest example is the airheads running the Air Force.

Apparently, the Air Force's control of our land-based and airborne nuclear arsenal has been pretty cavalier during the Bush regime. Guess these Republicans failed to watch "Dr. Strangelove."

But when they did get a screening of the Stanley Kubrick classic, they eventually got the gumption to fire Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley. It takes a lot to get rid of a secretary and even more to can a field-grade officer. The Hound thinks this is a story that has been underplayed in the Beltway media which remain fixated on the November election even though its mid-June.

Managing this nation's nuclear weapons is a pretty serious job. If they would have seen "Dr. Strangelove" back in 2005 when these two airheads were appointed, they would have known this.

We now find out the Air Force shipped what they thought was helicopter fuses to Taiwan. Instead, they were electrical fuses for Minuteman ballistic missile warheads which happened to be out of U.S. control for about a year-and-a-half. Then there was the B-52 flight that was loaded with nuclear missiles and its crew was sent on a cross-country journey. What if they crashed?

Which begs the question: What else happened that Air Force brass and we don't know?

The Hound has known a few jet jockeys over the years. They are warriors, undoubtedly, and there's nothing like an F-4 Phantom at tree level when you're popping smoke. But they're fliers, not actuaries. Besides, they really don't like pulling guard duty. They like the wild blue yonder.