Pentagon accidentally sends missile parts to TaiwanNo one to blame, apparentlyBy Andrew Thomas: Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 11:21 AMCHINA is mightily peeved at the US after some imbecile at the Pentagon sent a shipment of electrical fuses for Minuteman strategic nuclear missiles to Taiwan instead of the helicopter batteries that had been ordered.The US is only supposed to supply Taiwan with weapons that can be used for defensive purposes. It is a truth universally acknowledged that intercontinental ballistic missiles do not readily fall into this category.The fuses - 85 centimetres high and 50 centimetres in diameter - were shipped in late 2006 and despite quarterly inventory checks, the military muppets didn't notice the things were missing. Only when the Taiwanese kicked up a fuss about the non-arrival of the helicopter batteries was the mistake noticed. Once the error finally came to light, the military hastily recovered the four fuses after almost 18 months.According to US Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, the fuses were sent from an Air Force Base in Wyoming to a Defence Logistics Agency warehouse in Utah. There, they ended up in an unclassified area, rather than the secure section in which they should have been stored and somehow ended up travelling to Taiwan.A spokesman said the Cheyenne base has 'stringent accountability procedures in place' for shipments to the Utah base and claimed that no one at the Wyoming base was responsible for the mix-up.So it must be down to pixies.A White House spokesperson announced that a full investigation is under way and, when asked if the President still had confidence in the Air Force's competence, replied: "Yes, yes he does."So that's alright then.
