Tulsa World (Oklahoma) March 29, 2003
'Mother of All Bombs' is looking for Saddam
By Phil Mulkins
World Action Line Editor
What are these big bombs we are dropping on Baghdad that are evidently part of our "shock and awe" bombing campaign? They seem bigger than 2,000-pounders. -- S.H., Tulsa.
"Shock and Awe" describes the Pentagon's strategy of "hitting the Iraqis hard enough to stun them into quick surrender." This concept was adopted by the Bush administration following publication of the 1996 study, "Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance," put together by the Defense Group Inc., a Pentagon contractor.
The Defense Group's paper "Warfighting Systems and Concepts" defines "rapid dominance" as "a construct and concept for applying force with the principal and overriding objective of affecting, influencing and controlling the will and perception of a potential adversary through the use -- or threat of use -- of shock and awe. Shock and awe arises from the successful application of Rapid Dominance, a concept that has four characteristics: total knowledge, control of the environment, rapidity and brilliance in execution."
So, it's not like the "shocking" brilliant explosions that make you say "ah" on July 4 -- it's the satellite-gathered targeting intelligence, the precision of Global Positioning System-guided placement of huge or penetrating ordnance in their deepest shelters and the relentless approach of heavy armor to their doorstep, that is hoped to produce the "shock and awe" that will make them surrender.
The 21,500-pound MOAB, or the "mother of all bombs" in military circles, a spoof on Saddam's "mother of all battles" he promised us in 1991, is really an acronym for the new "Massive Ordnance Air Blast" bomb. According to www.military.com, MOAB has been under development since late last year by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Contrary to popular myth, MOAB is not a "fuel air bomb" but carries 18,000 pounds of tritonal explosive (80 percent TNT and 20 percent aluminum powder). It replaces the 15,000-pound "Daisy Cutter" bomb (BLU-82) in the inventory -- a slurried ammonium nitrate and aluminum-powder bomb used extensively in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The MOAB is for use against large formations of troops and equipment and against hardened aboveground bunkers, as well as deeply buried targets. Its blast overpressure has the capacity to "go around corners," making it a good "mining tool" for cave systems and deep bunkers.
"MOAB is deployed on a pallet pulled from a C-130 Hercules cargo plane by a parachute, both of which are then jettisoned, and its Inertial Navigation System and Global Positioning System guidance package takes over. The bomb also has wings and grid fins for guidance. The Air Force has not said exactly how MOAB is being used, but defense analyst John Pike, at www.globalsecurity.org, said it could be useful against Iraqi Republic Guard formations or even targets around Baghdad, including Saddam's palaces.
Submit Action Line questions to 699-8888 or by e-mail at phil.mulkins@tulsaworld.com. Action Line pursues consumer complaints submitted with photocopies of documentation to Tulsa World Action Line, P.O. Box 1770, Tulsa, OK 74102-1770.
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