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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.

mazza9 - 11:21am Aug 1, 2003 EST (# 13206 of 13267)
"Quae cum ita sunt" Caesar's Gallic Commentaries

WMDs. The opponents to the War in Iraq have settled on 16 words in the State of the Union address to vilify the president. The fact that President Clinton has come out in support of the President on this issue is of no concern to the critics.

Let see nuclear centrifuges are hidden in underground caches. Their feed stock is yellowcake which is low grade uranium ore which is processed so that fissile material can be extracted from yellowcake. Why do you suppose these centrifuges were "Hidden". Oh I know! The Saddam Carnival was going to use them to make cotton candy for the kids! Oh, then there were those instructions that were found in the house of the nuclear scientist who had the centrifuge hidden in his back yard. Well that was just subterfuge!

Have I covered anything/everything. As for missile defense I believe that with regards to North Korea we should launch an all out attack when they least expect it. I don't have a problem with 1 million North Korean, goose stepping troops meeting their maker! Maybe then the starving masses can be set free. Sudan, (slavery), Zimbabye (legislated starvation), etc etc. It's time to clean the clock!

gisterme - 09:14pm Aug 1, 2003 EST (# 13207 of 13267)

I heard former CIA director James Woolsey testifying before some committee on cspan the other day. He was talking about Iraqi WMD. He said that the 8,500 liters of antrax that Iraq was known to have had at one point, enough to kill millions, would, in liquid form fill about half the volume of an 18 wheeler semi truck. He said if that same amount of anthrax were converted to powder form it could fit in four suitcases. His point was that just because it has not been found yet, does not mean it does not exist. Iraq is a big place in which to hide something quite small.

Mr. Woolsey also said that the even more dangerous kinds of bio weapons could be even smaller in volume than the anthrax. He said that it is an absolute fallacy to think that some sort of large scale factory facilities would be required to produce such weapons or to store them. One or many such small facilites could easily be hidden.

He noted as an example that illegal meth-amphetimene manufacturing labs are on about the same size scale as would be required for bio weapons manufacturing capability. The follow up question he asked was "How many such illegal labs exist in California that authorities haven't found?" The obvious answer is "almost all of them".

gisterme - 09:34pm Aug 1, 2003 EST (# 13208 of 13267)

Robert -

"...On this thread, I've said repeatedly that interdiction has to be an option..."

You're a master at stating the obvious. One reason the US spends so much on defense is to keep that option viable. We learned from our lack of preparedness for WWI and WWII that its an option that's worth maintaining a viable capability of carrying out. Otherwise it's not an option.

I'm glad you realize that.

mazza9 - 11:45pm Aug 1, 2003 EST (# 13209 of 13267)
"Quae cum ita sunt" Caesar's Gallic Commentaries

It was reported at another web site that I visit that thirty Mig fighters were found buried in the Iraqi desert. No wonder their was no aircraft opposing the coalition.

Gisterme hit it on the head. How many other things are buried?

rshow55 - 05:33pm Aug 2, 2003 EST (# 13210 of 13267)
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.

Cooper seems to feel that I owe him an apology. My wife and I met with him. Afterwards, we read the posting he made describing the meeting. It was true as far as it went. But my wife felt strongly - and I agreed - that we owed him no apology whatsoever.

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