Years ago, I worked for an attorney who had a favorite expression he used whenever we needed to drop everything and handle something very "pressing" - a task that needed our immediate attention. He would say, "Do you have your running shoes on?" That was a warning sign that everything we were working on would have to be put aside long enough to handle an emergency. I have been up for two hours and while glancing at news around the world, something caught my eye and so, this morning, with my "running shoes on", here is what grabbed my attention on more than a few links. However, "Israel Matzav" has the best "diplomatic" way of stating the obvious:
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 Israel Matzav/Carl in Jerusalem
US sold Israel defective bunker busters?
The next time President Obama brags about what great support he has given Israel, you can ask him about this story. There is a fear in Israel that the GBU-28 bunker busters that we purchased from the United States have defective fuses. Israel ordered its first batch of the GBU-28 in 2005 and reportedly received them a year later. In 2007 it asked the Pentagon for another batch of bombs but the delivery was delayed due to concern in Washington that Israel planned to use the bunker buster bomb to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, some of which are located in fortified bunkers.Read that closely. Although Israel has been buying bunker busters since 2006, the contractor who apparently installed defective fuses started working for the US government in September 2010. Hmmm.
In September, Newsweek reported that the Obama administration had recently decided to authorize the delivery of 55 GBU-28 bombs as part of an aid package aimed at improving ties with Jerusalem.
Concerns in Israel now are that some of the bombs supplied to Israel over the years could have been installed with defective fuses.
On Friday, the US Justice Department announced that it had reached a settlement with Kaman Corp. which allegedly substituted a fuse in four lots of fuses made for the bombs. Under the settlement, Kaman Corp. will pay the government $4.75 million.
The US government alleged in its lawsuit against the company that the installation of defective fuses could lead to the premature detonation of the bomb and cause accidental misfires.
In September 2010, the Defense Department announced that it had awarded Kaman Precision Products, a subsidiary of Kaman Corp, a $35 million contract to manufacture fuses for four foreign countries. One of those countries was likely Israel. South Korea is also in possession of the GBU-28.
