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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.

lchic - 08:57am Feb 10, 2003 EST (# 8784 of 8787)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

Iraq - democracy - (lol)

the president of the hanging chads sees Iraq as the Switzerland of the Middle East, exporting freedom's ways to its neighbours. And yet nobody laughs out loud. On the contrary, planning and daft promises proceed apace. After the war (say, in about six weeks) General Tommy Franks will move in as supreme administrator of Iraq - your friendly foreign military dictator. Then, a year or so later, there will be some Kosovo-style tandem, a UN-civilian governor standing beside a Yank in braid. And two/three/four years on? Milk and honey time. Going home time for our boys. Full elected government time. Provided, naturally, that those so elected are pro-American.

It's a scenario almost designed to invite scepticism

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,892378,00.html

rshow55 - 09:12am Feb 10, 2003 EST (# 8785 of 8787)
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.

U.S. Demands Iraq Show Cooperation by This Weekend By STEVEN R. WEISMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/10/international/middleeast/10DIPL.html

Mr. Powell said he had not seen it, but that if it was an offshoot of a similar proposal by France last week for more inspectors, and more time for them to do their work, the idea was a nonstarter.

"I do not know what that accomplishes," Mr. Powell said on the ABC News program "This Week," referring to the proposal to add inspectors. "The issue is not more inspectors or more robust inspections. The issue is: Will Iraq comply? Will it give up its weapons of mass destruction?"

He said more inspectors would accomplish nothing without a change of approach by Mr. Hussein. Similarly, adding United Nations troops would also not help, he said.

"What are these blue-helmeted U.N. forces going to do?" he asked. "Shoot their way into Iraqi compounds?"

He said Iraq had to "come clean" and not have inspectors "play detectives or Inspector Clouseau running all around Iraq looking for this material."

Here, as so often, we have a problem that hinges on questions of fact .

I think the Bush administration has done, and is doing, some things wrong. Some big things. But I also feel that the inclination to face up to problems - not simply let them be postponed again and again and again - deserves a lot of respect.

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