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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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rshow55 - 04:07pm Jan 25, 2003 EST (# 8039 of 8046)
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.

Nuclear Agency Puts Off N. Korea Meeting By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 2:31 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Koreas-Nuclear.html

People are showing some tact.

It seems to me that if some suggestions I made to Saddam on this thread long ago were reconsidered - he really could meet every need that the Bush administration can really admit to - given its past statements in negotiation. Iraq would be safe from attack then, and sanctions should be lifted fairly quickly - with most countries in the UN cheering the process on.

Saddam should ask for help in getting inspections - from French and Russian oil companies - and their social connections. And from rich individuals who would assist the UN in inspections - covering more territory - and forming social contacts with Iraqis that were humanly good, from the point of view of all involved.

Saddam could do this within the constraints of Islamic tact - if his country was really disarming, as it has promised to do - and, so far as I can see from evidence - may really be doing.

There would have to be some redirection of resources. - The scientific research corps of Iraq would have to be directed to meeting the needs of the Iraqi people. That means the needs that Iraqi men, women, and children, in families and social groups - really have - the problems that they care about. There are enough such problems to keep Iraqi scientists busy, doing things both beautiful and productive. I'd be grateful for a chance to help with that - and might be able to make a contribution - especially about the mechanics of setting up a competitive industrail base - and developing really competitive products suited to Iraq's resources and the world's needs. But to hold such discusssions, I'd have to have permission of my government.

As it stands - I can't pursue that matter at all. I think they would kill me. With good reason. They've been threatening me, sometimes indirectly, sometimes very directly indeed - for a long time.

This thread has been a place where I have been permitted to stand -and good in its way - but a very narrow perch - much like a prison.

I think if I were permitted to make some suggestions about organizing Iraq's resources to make them competitive in the modern world - with an industrial base independent of oil - I could make a contribution. And offer some reasons to think that Iraq might take a leadership role in solving a problem that the Islamic nations have worried about for a long time. And asked the US for help about - without much effective help.

But there are such barriers to communication - in a country so full of checks and rigidities as the United States!

The restrictions that Americans can work under - and the patterns of intimidation - can be every bit as severe and merciless as those that sometimes happen in Islamic countries. They are different. But in all the ways that matter for a person to live - they kill you just the same if you step out of line - and the patterns of honor killing can be draconian indeed.

It might be fun to discuss this with some Iraqi scientists - with proper supervision. An Iraqi official, on the one hand - and a trusted intelligence office of a country with good connections to the United States - France or Russia, on the other side.

If it were necessary to accomodate real Iraqi needs, in the ordinary way of business - I'd be prepared to submit to moderate amounts of torture, if it were videotaped, and subject to reasonable prenegotiated limits. Nothing worse than I've had to handle before would be acceptable.

It seems to me that Iraq should be permitted to do everything it needs to do to function well - without humiliation. But some valid (and deeply felt) concerns of the

rshow55 - 04:10pm Jan 25, 2003 EST (# 8040 of 8046)
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 seems to me that Iraq should be permitted to do everything it needs to do to function well - without humiliation. But some valid (and deeply felt) concerns of the United States would have to be accomodated, too. It doesn't look especially hard, from where I sit.

Saddam, if he really cared to solve his problems, might think about how easy it would be for him to do this - with a few phone calls. Perhaps it would not be a proper thing to do - but there ought to be other things - that fit within his constraints - that would permit Iraq to satisfy its own needs - and keep its dignity - at the same time dealing with concerns that Americans and others have - with reasons that Iraq may not like, but ought to understand. People are talking. We ought to be a long way from impasse, or an inevitable war.

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New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense