New York Times on the Web Forums Science

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.

gisterme - 04:14pm Dec 15, 2002 EST (# 6670 of 6680)

lunarchick 12/15/02 7:26am

"...So what's the point in having silos of missiles - that cost a lot to maintain - if the reality is they're useless!"

Well, lchic, I'd have to say the point is that it sometimes takes a while for reality to be understood. The entire cold war took place as the result of a lack of understanding of reality. Nuclear bombs were obsolete after their first use. ICBMs were obsolete before they were ever designed, built or deployed. That lack of understanding no longer exists within the principal cold-war combatants, the US and Russia, and I believe China is also beginning to see the truth of the matter.

The problem is that certain governments in the world still want to hang on to the imagined glory of possesion of a stand of ICBMs. Leaders of nations that don't have them imagine that somehow having those missiles will make them god-like. That's a sort of fundamental instability that results from denial of the truth. I say denial because it's impossible that any person who has been able to gain control of the seat of power in a modern nation, by whatever means, can be ignorant of the truth about WMD. The truth is not hidden. There is no use for those things. That truth is just not what those leaders want it to be.

It's said that historically generals have always prepared to fight the last war. That's because it's the last war that they know anything about. It's always more comfortable to look back than to look forward. Leaders who today lust after WMD are no different. They lack imagination.

The ages of territorial conquest and empire are over. More and more folks around the world are realizing that the age of fighting each other is also nearly at an end. When enough people understand that there will be no more wars.

The world is the same size as it's always been. It's just that humanity has grown in both numbers and knowlege to the point that the world seems a smaller place.

The world has become very small for proponents of evil. Their desperation at the prospect having no "place" in this world is apparent.

Once one of those unstable "leaders" gets some ICBMs he will soon realize that his dreams and imaginations have been false. His past perceptions and present reality will not match. He will find himself to be no more god-like than before. ICBM-armed dictators with shattered dreams are dangerous.

That's why we need a ballistic missile defense.

manjumicha - 04:19pm Dec 15, 2002 EST (# 6671 of 6680)

And Sadamm said to me last night that he was a great friend of Rummy as long as he was gasing Iranians and kurds by thousands. In fact, he was getting all kinds of "goodies" from his DOD friends during most of his tenure...... He honestly doesn't understand why his old friends, Rummy, Chenny and others, have all turned against him...........he feels really let down by his US "friends"....after all, his US friends didn't care too much about those pedophiles ruling Kuwait.

Mazza, please help me understand this....is there any shred of truth that Sadamm's WMD came mostly from US and its allies' labs with US approval...including antharax strains shipped to Sadamm in 80s? I just can't believe that evil Sadam's words. I got to talk to a good Christian moral man such as yourself to ascertain the truth.

Sincerely seeking...

rshow55 - 04:28pm Dec 15, 2002 EST (# 6672 of 6680)
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.

gisterme 12/15/02 4:14pm . . . is a very good posting - - and if the only missile defense we need is one that can defend against the NK's in a short term - we can get that - maybe.

For a not-very-much longer term - a great deal of our military array is becoming obsolete. At a time when we need to, and can learn to do better.

We aren't very far from conditions where we can make WMD obsolete - and explain that effectively enough so that the probability of death from them is far less than it is now.

There are some constructive things going on - and some sensible responses taking shape.

Death to Dictators By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/opinion/15FRIE.html

We can afford to be careful. We can't afford not to be.

We can afford dialog - and efforts to respect the reasonable needs and feelings of others. We can't afford not to.

(8 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense