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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 - 09:44am Jul 7, 2003 EST (# 12878 of 12881)
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.

There are some sharp conflicts. The Bush adminstration - quite often - is committed to evasion and deception.

The President needs to do better than that - and people all over the world ought to use power that they have to motivate that.

1236-7 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.OG4Ib18Tn2e.0@.f28e622/1581

The analogies between the "missile defense" boondoggle and Enron seem pretty close. A lot hidden. A lot of smoke and mirrors. Much more promised, and claimed, than was actually there.

MD1076 rshow55 4/4/02 1:20pm includes this:

Challenge, questions, and invokation of the need for force:

MD728 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.OG4Ib18Tn2e.0@.f28e622/906... MD729 rshow55 3/20/02 9:32pm http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.OG4Ib18Tn2e.0@.f28e622/907 MD730 rshow55 3/20/02 9:37pm http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.OG4Ib18Tn2e.0@.f28e622/908

Counterchallenge:

MD764 gisterme 3/22/02 1:34pm http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.OG4Ib18Tn2e.0@.f28e622/956

Comment and response:

MD780 manjumicha2001 3/23/02 2:28am http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.OG4Ib18Tn2e.0@.f28e622/976 ... MD783-784 rshow55 3/23/02 11:15am http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.OG4Ib18Tn2e.0@.f28e622/981

. MD84 rshow55 3/2/02 11:52am http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.OG4Ib18Tn2e.0@.f28e622/99

The missile defense programs need to be evaluated in a reasonable tactical context, subject to the countermeasures that can reasonably be expected and specified.

The reasons why that can't be done now ought to be understood - thought about hard. Those reasons waste chances and endanger us.

Other issues involving the military-industrial complex need to be looked at carefully, too. There's both a great deal of money, and national security at stake.

The things Eisenhower warned against in his Farewell Address http://www.geocities.com/~newgeneration/ikefw.htm have happened. Eisenhower failed to solve some problems, too. Nixon made some honest and not-so-honest mistakes. A lot of messes were made -and not cleaned up. We have problems to face, and fix, where evasion won't do. Evasion is both too dangerous and too expensive. Lies paralyze.

lchic - 09:54am Jul 7, 2003 EST (# 12879 of 12881)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

"A big problem now is to recognize where we are - and where we've been - so we can have a better chance to get where we'd like to be." (Showalter)

On the USA national perspective Bob Herbert OP-ED COLUMNIST did exactly this today (July7), 'Civil Rights, the Sequel'

http://www.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/bobherbert/index.html

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