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 - 05:26pm Feb 27, 2003 EST (# 9341 of 9353)

lchic - 04:18pm Feb 27, 2003 EST (# 9335 ...) http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@28.qx6sayJo4lE.0@.f28e622/10869

"...Why isn't Saddam Hussain taken to the HAGUE along with his sons for an assessment of their impact on the peoples of Iraq?..."

Why? Well, lchic, maybe Saddam just hasn't heard that you want him to go to the Hague. Why don't you just send him a letter telling him that he and his sons must go to the Hague to have their human rights performance evaluated? That's a capitol idea! Be sure to include a spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down...

If he bothered to answer your demand, no doubt his answer would be something like:

"Dearest Dawn,

Who's going to make me go to the Hague? You??? You and who's large army? Why don't you just come to Iraq and take me? Oh me! Why am I being so snippy? Let's just be friends.

My sons would like to meet you! They're single!

Also, Dawn, there are lots of job openings in Iraq right now! It's the land of opportunity! All you need to do is hang out in and around military installations. There are no other particular duties involved. Just to prove that there's freedom in Iraq, free room and board is included with the job! Whilst we can't guarantee the quality of the cuisine, we promise you'll get to eat something almost every day.

Of course you must pledge your allegiance to me by showing your willingness to sacrefice your life in my defense. According to my buddies Osama and Yasser, martyrdom is not bad at all! Can't you just imagine yourself with seventy-two virgins?

Yours truly,

Saddie H.

Butcher of Baghdad"

:-)

Get real, lchic.

gisterme - 05:39pm Feb 27, 2003 EST (# 9342 of 9353)

rshow55 - 04:26pm Feb 27, 2003 EST (# 9338 of ...) <a href="/webin/WebX?14@28.qx6sayJo4lE.0@.f28e622/10874">rshow55 2/27/03 4:26pm</a>

"...It is worth noting that the people of Iraq and the people of France are different people -..."

As different as they are, they're also the same in all of the most important ways. All peoples have the same basic needs and have their lives made worthwhile by the same basic things. No? Perhaps you think the Iraqi people are "others" when compared to the French people.

"...and Saddam is not - from the Iraqi point of view - a foreign invader..."

Well, that's true, but I'd bet the Iranians and the Kuwaitis would consider him such. History would bear them out if they did. I also bet the people in 1945 Gremany were wishing something had been done about Hitler prior to 1939.

From the German point of view Hitler wasn't a foreign invader either. Hitler's leadership resulted in the spilling of the blood of how many millions, Robert? Do you recall?

robkettenburg03 - 06:09pm Feb 27, 2003 EST (# 9343 of 9353)

200,000 soldiers got Gulf War Syndrome in our last war with Iraq - U.S. NOT READY FOR AN ATTACK - http://www.military.com/NewsContent?file=FL_attack_021903

My home page - http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/robkettenburg

gisterme - 07:05pm Feb 27, 2003 EST (# 9344 of 9353)

rshow55 - 04:16pm Feb 27, 2003 EST (# 9332 of ...) http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@28.qx6sayJo4lE.0@.f28e622/10868

"...Gisterme , would you, as a practical matter - permit the record to be checked -..."

Anybody with a browser, some interest and some technical knowledge can do that, Robert. In case you hadn't noticed, the NYT forums are available to anybody who wants to look at them, this thread included.

"...in a way that could permit reasonable closure? Would the government permit that?..."

We live in America, Robert. Anybody with the right technical knowledge can look the record of this thread to see whether or not your (so- called) technical claims have any merit, or whether mine are criminally stupid as you claim. I've already invited anybody who wants to to do that. Don't you understand English? I can't imagine why anybody would bother to waste the time, but I have no say in whether or not they do so.

As for what the government would or wouldn't do, I have no say in that either. You already know that, Robert. I can't imagine that any of the innocuous "technical" things that have been posted here would prove a direct threat to national security during wartime. That's the only reason I can imagine that the government would want to or have a right to censor any forum activity.

On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the NYT got fed up with the lack of on-topic content of this forum and just canned it or simply banned us all. They can do whatever they want since it's their forum.

(9 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense