New York Times on the Web Forums Science

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.

almarst2003 - 12:00pm Apr 3, 2003 EST (# 11013 of 11019)

U.S. commandos destroy Iraqi pipeline to Syria - http://216.26.163.62/2003/ss_syria_04_02.html

jorian319 - 12:03pm Apr 3, 2003 EST (# 11014 of 11019)

Alarmst, what possible difference does it make what I believe? If the net result is a better future for the Iraqi people, "what it is about" has no relevence.

almarst2003 - 12:09pm Apr 3, 2003 EST (# 11015 of 11019)

CAIRO (Reuters) - A new mood of Arab nationalism, fusing pan-Arab and Islamic themes, is sweeping the Middle East in reaction to the U.S.-led war on Iraq, denounced by many Arabs as a new colonial invasion.

Millions of Arabs are taking pride in Iraqi resistance against overwhelming odds, and some are venting anger at their own governments, seen as impotent to prevent or collaborating with the Anglo-American attack on an Arab, Muslim nation.

"The Iraqi resistance has liberated the Arab world from a very mundane self-image," said Mohamed Said of Cairo's al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies.

"It has rehabilitated some pride and dignity after three or four decades in which self-confidence in the region has been completely destroyed," he told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=YO3YYEKQKEFHECRBAEOCFFA?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2502398

jorian319 - 12:11pm Apr 3, 2003 EST (# 11016 of 11019)

More and more Iraqi people are turning out to help coalition forces, as the spectre of fear and terror promulgated by the Iraqi regime dissipates under pressure from the coalition.

More evidence is turning up daily, illustrating the truly nightmarish brutality of the Hussein government, and reinforcing the fact that they have been ritually ignoring UN demands for disarmament. The have been stockpiling outlawed ballistic armaments, supporting terrorist groups, developiung chemical weapons... and the list goes on.

But, as SH's "spokesman" revealed yesterday, "victory is at hand" for Iraq. Pretty comforting, eh, alarmst?

rshow55 - 12:11pm Apr 3, 2003 EST (# 11017 of 11019)
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.

It has some. Because systems of ideas do matter.

Whatever Bush said, the first lines of The Philosopher of Islamic Terror By PAUL BERMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/magazine/23GURU.html still stand up, and the point it makes about philosophy does, too.

" In the days after Sept. 11, 2001, many people anticipated a quick and satisfying American victory over Al Qaeda. The terrorist army was thought to be no bigger than a pirate ship, and the newly vigilant police forces of the entire world were going to sink the ship with swift arrests and dark maneuvers.

. . .

Berman's long piece includes this:

" These people believe that, in the entire world, they alone are preserving Islam from extinction. They feel they are benefiting the world, even if they are committing random massacres.

The NYT article included these links to Sayyid Qutb on the Web:

• "Milestones" (from youngmuslims.ca) http://www.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/milestones/

• Selections from "In the Shade of the Quran" (from islamworld.net) http://www.islamworld.net/qutb/shade.html

• Qutb on Women (from nmhschool.org) http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/sayyid_qutb_on_women.htm

(2 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense