Our
relationship with Turkey has been a problem for a while now and does
not look to become smooth anytime soon. So, let's just fly
those nukes at Incirilik out of Anatolia and say au revoir.
It
may not be that simple. At Antiwar.com, Jason Ditz has a post,
"Report: US Nukes in Turkey at Risk of Seizure by Terrorists."
Why
were they there even five minutes after the end of the last cold war?
Do they serve any purpose? According to the article,
"retired Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger noting late last month
that the tactical nuclear weapons “no longer have any military
usefulness.” The low-yield weapons were designed in the 1960s, and
very few remain in service anymore, with what’s left mostly just
scattered around bases in Europe as a throwback to the Cold War."
So
really, why are they there?
The
last paragraph nails it,
"This
lack of utility has led nuclear powers to dramatically scale back
their tactical arsenals, though as with the rest of the nuclear
arsenals on the planet, there is considerable momentum behind keeping
such costly weapons funded and “modernized.” Keeping the US arms
in Europe and Turkey, for no good reason and at substantial risk,
seems aimed primarily at retaining the illusion that such arms matter
as anything but a sinkhole for billions in funding to fall into."
Follow
the money.
Another reason why we need a neutralist ethos.
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