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posted by takyon on Friday April 14 2017, @01:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the unconventional-conventional dept.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, also known as the "Mother of All Bombs", has been dropped in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. It is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal.

CNN reports:

The US military has dropped an enormous bomb in Afghanistan, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission. A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, nicknamed MOAB, was dropped at 7 p.m. local time Thursday, the sources said. [...] A MOAB is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition that is America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb.

The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, according to the military sources. They said the target was an ISIS tunnel and cave complex as well as personnel in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.

Gen. John Nicholson, Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement. "This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against [ISIS]." The statement said U.S. forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties.

Also at Fox News. The bombing came days after the death of a Green Beret in the same province, but a defense official said the bombing was unrelated. Another official had this to say:

The MOAB had to be dropped out of the back of a U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo plane due to its massive size. "We kicked it out the back door," one U.S. official told Fox News.

Update: The Afghan defence ministry says that 36 ISIS fighters were killed by the strike.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by inertnet on Friday April 14 2017, @02:59PM (11 children)

    by inertnet (4071) on Friday April 14 2017, @02:59PM (#494005) Journal

    If you compare current events to his position during the elections, it's almost as if the real Donald Trump has been replaced by a Hillary controlled look-alike.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @03:30PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @03:30PM (#494028)

    Wait, what? are you trying to imply that Politicians are somehow complete and utter two-faced lying bastards who'll say and do anything to get elected?
    how dare you...

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday April 14 2017, @04:20PM (1 child)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 14 2017, @04:20PM (#494058) Journal

      I can see who has not been paying attention for the last fifty years.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @05:37PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @05:37PM (#494099)

        I can see who has not been paying attention for the last fifty years.

        Fifty years? Read some of the output of ancient Greek writers sometime, then get back to me with a revision on that fifty bit there..(There's probably older stuff out there than the Greek literature..)

        Oblig: Q:How do you know a politician is lying? A:Its lips are moving

    • (Score: 2, Troll) by Joe Desertrat on Friday April 14 2017, @09:41PM

      by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Friday April 14 2017, @09:41PM (#494201)

      I'll have you know Trump was a "complete and utter two-faced lying bastard" long before he thought of running for any office.

  • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Friday April 14 2017, @03:39PM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Friday April 14 2017, @03:39PM (#494034) Journal

    Perfect example of the need for "insightfunny" mod.

  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday April 14 2017, @03:59PM (1 child)

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Friday April 14 2017, @03:59PM (#494044) Journal

    Well, the lizard people do wear human skins¹.

    Ugh though, can you imagine the poor bastard who had to put on the Donald Trump skin? The hands would barely fit over even the smallest reptilian claws….

    ¹ Artificially grown in a medical lab! This isn't Ash vs. Evil Dead here!

    Actually, no, that's too much of a stretch even for my imagination. The hands I mean. Ivanka's probably the lizard.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @05:42PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @05:42PM (#494103)

      The one time your lizard people schtick is actually on topic and someone finally gives you the mod that all your other posts deserved.
      You just can't win, can you?

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @05:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @05:37PM (#494100)

    Hello? Nothing about Trump has changed.
    He's always been nothing but a showman.
    The fact that he's now trying to govern by publicity stunts and fireworks is no different from what he did on the campaign trail.
    Policy has literally never meant anything to him. You can't be a hypocrite if you don't acknowledge the moral value of a position.
    For Trump the only value a position holds is in how well it promotes Trump.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @05:58PM (2 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Friday April 14 2017, @05:58PM (#494117) Journal

    It may be as simple as he got an offer he can't resist as the mafia use to say in "negotiations". The only real friends is likely his family and the rest can at best be considered as possibly enemies. A brutal analyze is that he's surrounded by unknown agents 24/7 and a security apparatus that may eavesdrop on all his communications. So he's in a dependency situation to whoever really runs the agencies and has the inside connections. Of course there's also the open dependencies on others to get things done.

    The official policy is that these persons are suppose to work for him. If that's not the case, then he's in a quite dire situation. Essentially a hostage and puppet regardless of personal intentions.

    Perhaps he should start his own very personal Pinkerton only loyal to him with no background in the current organizations. And use inside people that only he knows about to exert control such that no one can sneak up behind or conspire.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @06:44PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @06:44PM (#494145)

      If the US government were really that corrupt, the whole thing would have fallen apart years ago.
      Not mention a million leaks about it because the bureaucracy is so huge that maintaining that kind of discipline would be impossible.
      Lay off the derpstate conspiracy theory, it will rot your brain.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @08:00PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @08:00PM (#494172)

        why would it fall apart? what would someone have to rat about? that they are saving the country? because that's how this sedition gets committed and remains quiet because most of these idiots think that what they are doing is patriotic or in the best interests of themselves and sometimes humanity. what country do you live in? if Eisenhower was warning about it back in the day, do you think it got better or worse? what do our wars and domestic situation have to say about the matter? that's it's gotten worse, of course. add the suprarnational surveillance state and it gets more obvious. you're one of these people that think the president has real power and is going to do something about shit. grow the fuck up. this country is on auto-douche 24/7. we are way past the voting stage, with our closed source voting machines...wtf?