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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 - 05:38pm Jan 30, 2003 EST (# 8351 of 8352)
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.

A Pledge of Assistance for Bush From 8 European Leaders By ALAN COWELL http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/30/international/europe/30CND-EUROPE.html

"LONDON, Jan. 30 — Assuming a somewhat frayed mantle as global diplomat, Prime Minister Tony Blair set off for the United States tonight to meet with President Bush, bearing an unusual pledge of support on Iraq from eight European leaders but leaving behind a continent ever more divided over the need for war.

"The eight European leaders — Prime Ministers Blair, José María Aznar of Spain, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Jose Durão Barroso of Portugal, Peter Medgyessy of Hungary, Leszek Miller of Poland, Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark and President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic — offered their backing in a letter published today in several newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, that urged other Europeans to join in supporting President Bush against Iraq.

. . . .

"Britain said France and Germany had not been asked to sign the letter, while Greece, the current holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, had also been kept out of the loop. The Netherlands said it knew of the letter, but had refused to sign it. . . . . . The rush of visits to the White House prompted a European legislator, Elmar Brok of Germany's Christian Democrats, to remark, "The race of the vassals has begun."

. . .

"Several European governments and some high European officials said they had not been consulted about the letter. Significantly, though, the letter's expressions of ringing support for the United States fell short of explicit backing for Washington's threat of a go-it-alone war with what it has termed a "coalition of the willing" if other nations continue to oppose it.

"Rather, the letter sought to urge the United Nations Security Council, on whose decisions France has a veto, not to balk at a military campaign if Iraq failed to comply with United Nations demands to disclose and destroy weapons of mass destruction.

""The Security Council must maintain its credibility by ensuring full compliance with its resolutions," the letter said. "We cannot allow a dictator to systematically violate those resolutions. If they are not complied with, the Security Council will lose its credibility and world peace will suffer as a result."

. . . .

"The signatories included both established European Union members like Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Denmark as well as three countries set to join the union next year — Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland.

" By another calculation, 10 of the 15 existing European Union members did not sign the letter, reflecting profound unease from the Aegean Sea to the Arctic Circle.

. . .

The gap widened further today when the European Parliament voted 287 to 209 in Brussels to urge the United States not to take unilateral military action against Iraq, because Baghdad's dealings with the weapons inspectors did not "justify military action."

"A pre-emptive strike would not be in accordance with international law and the U.N. charter and would lead to a deeper crisis involving other countries in the region," the resolution said.

. . . . . .

The antiwar lobby found fresh support today from Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency and is leading the organization's hunt for nuclear weapons in Iraq.

"I still hope war is not inevitable," he said in a radio interview here. "I will do my damned best to ensure that war is not inevitable, and I will try every possible way to try to see whether we can resolve that issue through peaceful means. Even if it takes a few more months, this is an investment in peace."

By contrast, Britain and the United States have both recently insisted that time is running out.

At a joint news conference with

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