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Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

rshow55 - 01:02pm Mar 26, 2003 EST (# 10537 of 10544)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

The rest of the world is uncomfortable with the behavior of the Bush administration for a lot of reasons - including some valid reasons. We should fix the things that actually need to be fixed.

Assessing Watergate 30 Years Later By RICHARD REEVES http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/opinion/23REEV.html

Watergate Legacy: More Than a Tired Suffix By ADAM CLYMER http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/17/politics/17WATE.html

The Bad Old Days at the F.B.I. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/16/opinion/16SUN2.html

" New documents provide disturbing new details of the F.B.I.'s abuse of power in the 1960's, and they are a cautionary tale for today."

2564 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@28.Y9ngaHDn5Gj.1705074@.f28e622/3204

lchic - 06:34am Jun 17, 2002 EST (# 2565 of 9745) ~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

"sluicegate post-watergate ;)

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There are things we need to fix, for a lot of reasons. Things that Eisenhower warned about in his FAREWELL ADDRESS of January 17, 1961. http://www.geocities.com/~newgeneration/ikefw.htmb have happened.

And for us to deal with our real national interests, and not make a mess - we need to deal with them - as we're insisting that other nations and systems of nations clean up their messes.

That would make Tony Blair's job a lot easier. And make me a prouder American.

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If we actually started facing facts - and asked others to do so as well - a lot could sort out into patterns much better than those today. Doing so would be very good politics for GWB. Failing to do so is bad politics - and failing to defend and sustain the real interests of the United States.

I'm doing just what I promised Casey I'd do. I only wish it were enough . . . .

jorian319 - 01:27pm Mar 26, 2003 EST (# 10538 of 10544)

Robert, in the aggregate, we are most concerned about ourselves - not the Iraqi people or some abstract class of "victims of oppression".

With that in mind, I submit that our government is currently undertaking a metamophosis that will transform it from an insidious force eroding our rights to an aggressive monster conspicuously and unashamedly devouring those rights under "patriot act" type banners.

I submit that this is a clear and present danger that - to Americans - dwarfs the dangers of Iraqi dictators, terrorism in general, nuclear/chemical/biological threat and asteroid impact combined. In fact, the immediate danger to our well being may be exceeded only by the danger of fast-food.

The REALLY alarming thing about this threat is that it mirrors a process that has been seen repeatedly throughout history, and history has shown that it will proceed in a one-way march that can only be halted by violent revolution.

Won't that be fun for the kids?

It is unfortunate indeed that this war in Iraq will serve so well to accelerate the downfall of this once-great nation. I think that is what we get for staking exclusive claim to the "high road" and not stooping to covert - or overt - elimination of despots. Instead we elevate them to a high position of attention, try to rally the public and spend a hundred billion on an attack, and every other available dime to enable the revocation of our constitution in the name of Homeland Security.

dccougar - 01:43pm Mar 26, 2003 EST (# 10539 of 10544)
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts.

almarst2003 - 12:06am Mar 26, 2003 EST - "The Iraqi Information Ministry claims..."

Why would anyone listen to the Iraqi "Information" Ministry? I imagine they're about as truthful as those Iraqi soldiers saying they want to surrender... just before they open fire.

lchic - 07:43am Mar 26, 2003 EST - "Quote ""Even the heart of the fool and the idiot frequently beats more accurately than that of the intelligent man, especially the scientist. -- Vlad Parkham"

Please clarify. If you're up to it, provide observational or logical support for such an assertion.

rshow55 - 01:00pm Mar 26, 2003 EST - "It is in the interest of all Americans of good faith, and all world leaders of responsibility, to establish some key facts and relations on which important matters of world safety, decency, and material prosperity depend."

"We should fix the things that actually need to be fixed."

"But as Buck Showalter knows - and everybody else knows - things matter when they matter - matter in the ways they matter - and it is disastrous and stupid to ignore problems that need to be faced."

So much of what you say is simply tautological. Do you have any nontrivial positions?

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