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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

rshowalter - 05:03pm Apr 22, 2001 EST (#2514 of 2516)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Whatever the Republicans do, the Democrats have a duty, and a party interest, to do what is right for the United States.

I have no doubt about 1.

Missile Defense, as it has been sold, and in any form that can reasonably be proposed, in any technically examinable detail, is a fake, a shuck, in Menken's phrase "as devoid of merit as a herringfish is of fur."

The only explanation of this shameful circumstance that makes any sense to me at all is that it is being pushed in the way it is because it is a lie. And this only makes sense to me if the people pushing it are in so deep that they put all other interests aside, in an effort to keep from having to admit what they have done, and what they have become identified with.

As for 2, it fits a great deal, and though it might be a "beautiful theory" in terms of my assumptions, which can be checked for consistency.

It seems to me that reasons to expect misappropriation of funds are becoming compelling. 902: rshowalter 3/9/01 7:13pm
903: rshowalter 3/9/01 7:30pm
Elder Bush in Big G.O.P. Cast Toiling for Top Equity Firm .... by LESLIE WAYNE ..... NYT . . . . March 5, 2001 http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/05/politics/05CARL.html

904: lunarchick 3/10/01 10:45am
905: rshowalter 3/10/01 12:08pm
906: rshowalter 3/10/01 12:15pm

"Could it be that the CIA, and associates, have been beneficiaries of large illicit flows of money over the years, and are now so compromised, and so enmeshed in lies and evasions, that they are incapable of acting in the public interest?

That would surely explain a lot.

It would explain some coercive, theatening patterns, some suicides, and a massive pattern of biased mistakes combined with an unwillingness to directly address questions. -

I can't think of any explanation of credit to the agency, or the government, which could explain these things. And there are many things, fit to a consistent pattern, that the "CIA corruption to the point of treason" explanation seems to fit.

Perhaps another explanation can be set forth.

. . . . .

Enough facts are going to come out (at the least, because it is in the interest of Europeans and Chinese to have them out) that the United States is going to have to explain its behavior. It would be in the interest of the Republican party to take the lead.

If the Republican party, though a false sense of solidarity and a false sense of loyalty, defends the indefensible, it will have done itself, and the nation, a great deal of harm.

If the Democratic party, out of cowardice, refuses to face the need to check facts and circumstances , it will have devalued itself, and dishonored the United States in the face of the whole world.

rshowalter - 05:04pm Apr 22, 2001 EST (#2515 of 2516)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If these matters were faced, the Republican party might strengthen its position in America, the United States would improve its standing before the whole world, the current high probability of world destruction could be eliminated, or radically reduced, and these things could be done gracefully , in a way to the credit of the United States, and in her material interest.

rshowalter - 05:05pm Apr 22, 2001 EST (#2516 of 2516)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I wonder what fraction of American enlisted men, especially those whose duty is directly to fight and kill, could read

Elder Bush in Big G.O.P. Cast Toiling for Top Equity Firm .... by LESLIE WAYNE ..... NYT . . . . March 5, 2001 http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/05/politics/05CARL.html without being ashamed?

If they looked at the detailed circumstances of military contracting, it could not be many.

Is this what our military is essentially built to support?

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