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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 - 10:08pm Oct 13, 2002 EST (# 4849 of 4859)
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.

The terrorists make the United States look good - and give plenty of evidence that the US and other advanced nations do have vital military needs.

The United States has an enormous amount to be proud of - about its culture, and its technology - - including its military technology.

Even so, the United States isn't always at its best - and not all American technology is always good - or under good control. Both americans and others need to understand that there are technical forces and economic forces in the United States that no one is particularly proud of - and that no one has under ideal control.

If truth and efficiency were always the only issues in politics, getting right answers to issues like missile defense could be done - according to standards that could stand the light of day - nationally and internationally, according to patterns such as those set out in MD1896-1899 rshow55 4/30/02 10:10am . The standards that apply in jury trials could be brought to bear - in a very public way. For elected officials, however, pressures are often quite different - though political technology can be very effective in its way.

rshow55 - 10:08pm Oct 13, 2002 EST (# 4850 of 4859)
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.

For example, the "political technology" that sustains the "missile defense" boondoggle, and much else that has grown cancerous about the US military-industrial complex since the "end" of the cold war, is powerful - so powerful that politicians, even the best and most patriotic ones, sometimes have to bend to it - - to survive. , and understanding how powerful it is, and how it works, is important so that it can be countered. It is important that facts be established, and decisions based on them. When the public is informed, paying attention, and acting wisely this happens. But the nightmare irrationality of much of US foreign policy, and the missile defense boondoggle, is based on other "logic."

That logic was very well illustrated in

Bush 2000 Adviser Offered To Use Clout to Help Enron By Joe Stephens Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, February 17, 2002

" Just before the last presidential election, Bush campaign adviser Ralph Reed offered to help Enron Corp. deregulate the electricity industry by working his "good friends" in Washington and by mobilizing religious leaders and pro-family groups . . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22380-2002Feb16.html

The text of http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22380-2002Feb16.html is well worth reading as we approach election day.

Similar pressures are applied - - with great sophistication and organization - to defend projects, like missile defense - that are not in any reasonable national interest. The size of the US defense budget (more than half a billion dollars/year for every member of the House and Senate) makes these pressures unavoidable. Eisenhower warned against the almost all-pervasive influences resulting in his FAREWELL ADDRESS http://www.geocities.com/~newgeneration/ikefw.htm

That's an important reason why getting at the truth, on some key issues of military history, and technical fact - may require questions, and attention, from people outside of the United States who have a stake in what the United States does. I believe that many politicians who don't feel comfortable asking those questions - - and many military people, too, would welcome them.

Mesopotamia .....1917 by Rudyard Kipling http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee74d94/3625

lchic - 11:20pm Oct 13, 2002 EST (# 4851 of 4859)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

US damns attack as a cowardly act

14oct02

THE United States yesterday condemned the bombing as a "despicable act of terror".

"The United States Government condemns in the strongest possible terms this despicable act of terror," the US embassy said in a statement. "The United States has offered all appropriate assistance to the Government of Indonesia to see that those responsible for this cowardly act face justice," the statement said.

http://heraldsun.news.com.au/

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