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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 - 03:54pm Jan 19, 2003 EST (# 7814 of 7819)
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.

Stresses are high:

U.N. Inspectors Pressing Baghdad for Better Cooperation By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Weapons inspectors pressed for full Iraqi cooperation in more than two hours of talks with government officials Sunday, and reported ``some progress'' in what they called a last-ditch effort to avoid war.

It seems to me that there's been a lot of progress, even so. Here are repeats of some past postings of mine that seem to me to fit here.

rshow55 - 03:56pm Jan 19, 2003 EST (# 7815 of 7819)
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.

rshow55 - 05:37pm Dec 26, 2002 EST (# 7058

"I think there's time and reason for talking before fighting.

rshow55 10/20/02 10:20pm includes this:

"Perhaps things are going very well, and international discussions are going well. If you take Iraq at its word, subject to checking that if offers - - we are a long way from a justification for war.

"and includes these references:

. Iraq States Its Case By MOHAMMED ALDOURI http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/17/opinion/17ALDO.html

. Iraq Announces Amnesty for Its Prisoners By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html

. Mobs Virtually Empty Iraq's Prisons By JOHN F. BURNS http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/21/international/middleeast/21IRAQ.html

" If Iraq can effectively reintegrate those prisoners, it will show a distinct "regime change" in the ways that matter to many, many people.

"Those words still seem right to me. I don't have to doubt that Saddam has done some very ugly things. Has some things backwards. All the same - efforts to make accomodations for peace have been real and substantial. It seems to me that we're a long way from having a justification for war - unless we do a lot more checking, and a lot more talking, than we have.

"There could be mistakes on both sides - and there could still be plenty of room for solutions that were consistent with every reasonable and reasonably balanced public interest of any nation involved. I think it is possible that the Bush administration has made some misjudgements.

"One reason is that I think gisterme has some connections with the Bush administration - and here is a judgement of his that might misjudge the relationships between Bin Laden and Saddam:

_______________

gisterme - 03:35pm Dec 31, 2001 EST (#10594

lchic 12/31/01 1:13am

"...The hand maiden of Bin Laden (the spoilt rich brat) was seeking revenge in relation to '67..."

" Not trying to refute your point here, lchic, but it's interesting that Al Quaida had very little to say about Israel and the Palestinean situation until after 9/11. Previously OBL's primary justification for his blood-lust was more Iraq-related. Specifically, his gripe was the presence of "infidels" on Saudi "holy ground" since the slapping-down of Saddam during the Gulf War. Hmmm. Personally I think OBL and Al Quaida are proxies created via exploitation of the islamist movement to allow Saddam to pursue vengance for defeat in that war.

_______

"If gisterme is close to GWB - and had this judgement at that time - might that have biased internal intelligence estimates? Personally, I sometimes worry that people in the US government hesitate a great deal before crossing GWB, and go way out of their way to try to please him.

As of course they should. But is could lead to misjudgements. Maybe bloody ones.

Judgements on missile defense, or Korean diplomacy, might be less than perfect, too.

And we know that Kim and Saddam fall way short of perfection.

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