and why was the target necessary to be attacked with this particular weapon. and then the second question is what was the calculus that the military made with the regard to the potential impact of civilians in that area. the gbu-43, the so-called mother of all bombs is an 11-ton weapon that has blast effects that go well beyond a mile. and it s frankly hard to imagine a circumstance on which you could drop a weapon like that without having any consequences whatsoever on civilians. so i m very interested in asking the questions about what exactly was the target, and how did the military make the calculation that attacking that target would be worth whatever potential impact it would be on civilians. and ambassador, do you sense that in the decision to use this particular bomb, that there was an intent to deliver a message with it that ts bomb delivers because malcolm nance has mentioned in the previous segment that you could have done the same destructive work with other devices.
really another successful job. we re very, very proud of our military. just like we re proud of the folks in this room. we are so proud of our military. and it was another successful event. joining us now, the former ambassador to the african union. and deputy assistant secretary of state for african affairs. back with us, david corn. ambassador, i want to get your reaction to the bomb today. you studied the aftermath of bombings, especially as it affects the civilian casualties and other unintended consequences. what do you expect to find when we finally see the results of this bomb? well, lawrence, the first question is what was the target and why was the target necessary to be attacked with this particular weapon. and then the second question is what was the calculus that the military made with the regard to the potential impact of civilians in that area. the gbu-43, the so-called mother of all bombs is an 11-ton weapon that has blast effects that go well beyond a mile.
happenstance? yes, absolutely. the irony of roger stone rejecting a conspiracy theory. and so today, april 13th, 2017, was the day that america woke up to the sudden knowledge that bombs have mothers. that all of the conventional nonnuclear bombs in the american military arsenal have one big beautiful mother. and there she is. the bomb s official name for bookkeeping purposes in the military is the gbu-43. the letters on the side of the bomb describe its function, what you can expect from it. massive ordnance air blast. but the military doesn t want us to call it the gbu-43, or the moab. names are important to the military. they name their bases after war heroes, after general, including
right for the mission. did you authorize it, sir? everybody knows exactly what happened. what i do is i authorize my military. we have the greatest military in the world and they have done a great job as usual. we have given them total authorization. and that s what they re doing. frankly, that s why they ve been so successful lately. the president got glowing review last week from most of the media in his first use of tomahawk missiles, his reviews on the use of the military s most destructive nonnuclear bomb will have to wait until there are at lst initial reports on the number of civilian casualty, if any, and what tactical gain was achieved by the gbu-43. now to the news that donald trump cannot bomb away, the guardian is reporting that british intelligence first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious interactions between figures connected to trump and known or suspected russian agents.
often abetted by state actors like russia. and here is what his boss, the president of the united states has had to say about wikileaks. now this just came out. this just came out. wikileaks, i love wikileaks. boy, that wikileaks has done a job on her, hasn t it? this wikileaks is like a treasure trove. joining us now, malcolm nance, msnbc counterterrorism and intelligence analyst. david corn, washington bureau chief for mother jones and an msnbc political analyst. and david frump, senior editor. i want to talk about the massive bomb that was dropped today and your interpretation of its use and what you think it might have been able to achieve in that usage. well, the gbu-43 is really just an area destruction device. it s designed to make a big blast over pressure.