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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?

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almarst2003 - 12:40pm Mar 29, 2003 EST (# 10707 of 10713)

THE SHAPE OF THE HORSE-TO-BE-EAGLE:

Robert Fisk: Raw, devastating realities that expose the truth about Basra - http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=391460

Two British soldiers lie dead on a Basra roadway, a small Iraqi girl – victim of an Anglo American air strike – is brought to hospital with her intestines spilling out of her stomach, a terribly wounded woman screams in agony as doctors try to take off her black dress.

An Iraqi general, surrounded by hundreds of his armed troops, stands in central Basra and announces that Iraq's second city remains firmly in Iraqi hands. The unedited al-Jazeera videotape – filmed over the past 36 hours and newly arrived in Baghdad – is raw, painful, devastating.

It is also proof that Basra – reportedly "captured'' and "secured'' by British troops last week – is indeed under the control of Saddam Hussein's forces. Despite claims by British officers that some form of uprising has broken out in Basra, cars and buses continue to move through the streets while Iraqis queue patiently for gas bottles as they are unloaded from a government truck.

A remarkable part of the tape shows fireballs blooming over western Basra and the explosion of incoming – and presumably British – shells. The short sequence of the dead British soldiers – over which Tony Blair voiced such horror yesterday – is little different from dozens of similar clips of dead Iraqi soldiers shown on British television over the past 12 years, pictures which never drew any condemnation from the Prime Minister.

The two Britons, still in uniform, are lying on a roadway, arms and legs apart, one of them apparently hit in the head, the other shot in the chest and abdomen.

Another sequence from the same tape shows crowds of Basra civilians and armed men in civilian clothes, kicking the soldiers' British Army Jeep and dancing on top of the vehicle. Other men can be seen kicking the overturned Ministry of Defence trailer, which the Jeep was towing when it was presumably ambushed.

Also to be observed on the unedited tape – which was driven up to Baghdad on the open road from Basra – is a British pilotless drone photo-reconnaissance aircraft, its red and blue roundels visible on one wing, shot down and lying overturned on a roadway. Marked "ARMY'' in capital letters, it carries the code sign ZJ300 on its tail and is attached to a large cylindrical pod which probably contains the plane's camera.

Far more terrible than the pictures of dead British soldiers, however, is the tape from Basra's largest hospital that shows victims of the Anglo-American bombardment being brought to the operating rooms shrieking in pain.

A middle-aged man is carried into the hospital in pyjamas, soaked head to foot in blood. A little girl of perhaps four is brought into the operating room on a trolley, staring at a heap of her own intestines protruding from the left side of her stomach. A blue-uniformed doctor pours water over the little girl's guts and then gently applies a bandage before beginning surgery. A woman in black with what appears to be a stomach wound cries out as doctors try to strip her for surgery. In another sequence, a trail of blood leads from the impact of an incoming – presumably British – shell. Next to the crater is a pair of plastic slippers.

almarst2003 - 12:45pm Mar 29, 2003 EST (# 10708 of 10713)

IS IT AHAT THE CHRISTIAN GOLDEN RULE IS ABOUT?

I think - EXACTLY SO!

rshow55 - 12:46pm Mar 29, 2003 EST (# 10709 of 10713)
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.

Perhaps a stupid question. Wasn't the purpose of this invasion - at least claimed to be - real disarmament of Iraq so far as weapons of mass destruction goes - and real regime change?

Using these words significantly - in ways that ought to satisfy reasonable people almost everywhere - are these negotiating goals that are really out of reach?

10123 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@28.8lyXaD8z6De.2200472@.f28e622/11669

Why exactly?

The Iraqi regime has already changed a good deal - in ways that a lot of people in the UN found significant.

What's possible.

Bush's dream of easy victory, and an easy occupation leading to a beautiful transition to democracy plainly isn't.

Maybe some adjustments need to be made.

almarst2003 - 12:55pm Mar 29, 2003 EST (# 10710 of 10713)

O.K. We can see the beginning of the end of "Bush's dream".

Now, there are at least 2 questions:

HOW HIGH THE PRICE WILL IT BE and

WHO IS GOING TO BEAR THE COST.

Any educated quess?

almarst2003 - 12:57pm Mar 29, 2003 EST (# 10711 of 10713)

"the purpose of this invasion"

My answer lies several pages up on this forum.

(2 following messages)

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