Dear US of A, please don't f*** up

[kn]

Galaki said:
What worries me is how a "mistake" could have happened... to nuclear bombs. Not one, but six.
How to get it to go off is entirely another issue, no?

If they could make a mistake and "deliver" the bombs. The mistake to "accidentally" set them off probably aren't as far fetched.

 Yes, it's nuts that they accidentally left the warheads on the missle before transporting them.  But, it requires a launch code to set off the nuclear device and an "accidental" set off is something like 1 in a million.  That said, there is still a chance and "safing" is the norm.

http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/design.htm

Read there for more information but the safing design is set with a threshold such that if even the most critical part of the high explosive in the device is triggered accidentally, the reusulting nuclear yeild is limited to no more than 4 lbs of TNT equivalent.  That's still a hefty explosion as it might bring the plane down if it blew up on board but far from catastrophe.

The concern here isn't if the could have been set off accidentally.  The concern is that they were "mishandled" in the first place.