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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 - 10:28am Sep 29, 2001 EST (#9900 of 9910)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Military decisions are serious , and I'd like to quote a poem, not titled "Afghanistan" - - but titled in a way that may connect to circumstances facing the US, and the world. It was written in 1917, but I believe it applies today, and should remembered always, when people think of military action, and what "ordinary bureacratic evasion and bungling" can do, when it counts.

Mesopotamia by Rudyard Kipling , . . . . 1917

They shall not return to us, the resolute, the young,
... The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave:
But the men who left them thriftily to die in their own dung,
... Shall they come with years and honour to the grave?

They shall not return to us; the strong men coldly slain
... In sight of help denied from day to day:
But the men who edged their agonies and chid them in their pain,
...Are they too strong and wise to put away?

Our dead shall not return to us while Day and Night divide--
...Never while the bars of sunset hold.
But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while they died,
...Shall they thrust for high employments as of old?

Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour:
...When the storm is ended shall we find
How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power
...By the favour and contrivance of their kind?

Even while they soothe us, while they promise large amends,
...Even while they make a show of fear,
Do they call upon their debtors, and take counsel with their friends,
...To conform and re-establish each career?

Their lives cannot repay us--their death could not undo--
...The shame that they have laid upon our race.
But the slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance that slew,
...Shall we leave it unabated in its place?

In real military circumstances, right answers matter and lies, mental laziness, and evasions are dangerous.

kangdawei - 11:05am Sep 29, 2001 EST (#9901 of 9910)

rsho, you've certainly done a great job of convincing yourself that it "won't work", though you are careful to ignore Rumsfeld's point about satellite technology looking impossible in the 60s and growing to become mundane today.

We can (and will) argue the workability in the coming months. I'd like to share a little diversionary bit of interesting trivia though, that most people in the USA think we already have a missle defense system:

Although missile defense is the single most important component of national security policy in the nuclear age, there is amazing ignorance on the current state of our defense. Indeed, prior to the election of George W. Bush, 74% of Americans believed the United States possessed a national missile defense. Since the election, and the publicity the issue received from the campaign, that number is down to about 58%. Still, all in all, an amazing statistic if you consider that over half of the American people believe the United States possesses a missile defense when in fact not a single, solitary missile can be stopped.

The confusion is understandable. In a democratic republic like ours it is expected that matters of national security will be examined and explained by the president and members of Congress. Citizens assume that their representatives will be well-informed about such matters having access to the best military and political intelligence in the country. After all, they heard from President Reagan that he was going to build a national missile defense, and they assumed he did. Their representatives say little about the threat to the United States from missile attack and the absence of a defense.

rshowalter - 11:07am Sep 29, 2001 EST (#9902 of 9910)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

There are many times where checking, and action based on verifiable facts, is our only hope. And plenty hopeful.

There are plenty of examples involved with missile defense. We have things that we can do, but we need to understand that there are some things we can't possibly do at all, or even think about doing.

MD9600 rshowalter 9/22/01 7:33am ... MD9602 rshowalter 9/22/01 7:53am
MD9603 rshowalter 9/22/01 8:07am ... MD9604 rshowalter 9/22/01 8:09am
MD9605 rshowalter 9/22/01 8:11am ... MD9606 rshowalter 9/22/01 8:16am

rshowalter - 11:11am Sep 29, 2001 EST (#9903 of 9910)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

kangdawei 9/29/01 11:05am . . that's certainly an important point.

People have plenty of reason to be concerned about the issues that motivate missile defense.

We need to find answers. Ones that can work.

If people were as afraid as they should be about these things - - as afraid as a lot of the professionals are, or as concerned as I am - - we might find solutions.

Maybe "right under our noses."

The current "war on terrorism" might have a lot to teach us, about what has to be done.

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