The events of August and September now allow us to evaluate the accuracy of the August 26 Kennebunkport Warning, which generated much attention and controversy from the moment it was issued. The preliminary verdict of history is now in, and establishes the Kennebunkport Warning as one of the most remarkable successes of open source intelligence forecasting in recent decades. It may even have directly helped to disrupt Cheney's plan for a nuclear sneak attack on Iran. The Kennebunkport Warning was written in the afternoon of August 24, 2007. Support signatures were obtained in Kennebunkport, Maine later on August 24, and primarily on August 25. The document was sent out to a list of recipients in the US and abroad just before midnight eastern time on Sunday, August 26. The first known internet posting was on the Jeff Rense web site (<http://www.rense.com>www.rense.com), where the document appeared before midnight Pacific time on Sunday, August 26. The Kennebunkport Warning was thus in public view all day on Monday, August 27. On Tuesday, August 28, Bush signaled an escalation of tensions with Iran in a raving speech before the American Legion convention in Kansas. Here he warned that the Middle East now lay in the shadow of a "nuclear holocaust" because of the Iranian nuclear program. He accused Iran of acting as a state sponsor of terrorism, intervening against the US forces in Iraq, and also made allegations about Iran as a backer of Hezbollah and Hamas. Diplomatic observers recognized that this tirade constituted an important intensification of US threats against Iran. On Wednesday, August 29, Bush's threats moved a step towards fulfillment as US Air Force personnel loaded six cruise missiles onto the wing mounts of a B-52 intercontinental strategic bomber at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Each of the missiles carried a nuclear warhead of between 5 and 150 kilotons of explosive power. Reportedly because of mechanical problems, the loading process took some 8 hours. On Thursday, August 30, the rogue B-52, with its cargo of six deadly nuclear-armed cruise missiles, made the 3.5 hour flight across the US to Barksdale, Louisiana. Barksdale is the number two US headquarters for nuclear warfighting, second only to Offutt AFB in Nebraska. Barksdale is also the jumping-off base for direct B-52 bombing runs into the Middle East, a role which Barksdale played in the shock and awe campaign in Iraq in the spring of 2003. By the time the rogue B-52 reached Barksdale, cataclysmic events were not far off...
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