New York Times on the Web Forums Science

Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

dlhennessey - 04:10pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3522 of 3547)

All reasonable thinking people organizations - political, non-political - must become energized to combat the "old" thinking of the Bush administration.

IDS, is not a core value of the American people.

rshowalter - 04:12pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3523 of 3547)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

In response to http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca/WorkingGroupsPage/NucWeaponsPage/Documents/ThreatsNucWea.html gisterme posted .. 3375: gisterme 5/6/01 5:05pm .....and 3382: gisterme 5/6/01 7:18pm

I responded with some correspondences and lessons about war, military types, and peacemaking in the movies West Side Story ; Dr. Strangelove ; Mary Poppins ; and Casablanca.

3383: rshowalter 5/6/01 8:36pm ..... 3384: rshowalter 5/6/01 8:37pm
3385: rshowalter 5/6/01 8:41pm

We would like solutions that are practical, and choose life rather than death. There are solution approaches we'd like to favor, and characters we'd like not to remind people of.

possumdag - 04:21pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3524 of 3547)
Possumdag@excite.com

.. couldn't get into forum ..

sin12bad - 04:29pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3525 of 3547)

The expense for any would-be enemy getting an explosive or virus or poison into the USA via a missile thrown into the atmosphere is far far greater than sneaking the same through normal US custom's posts. To assume our enemies are stupid is a big and dangerous mistake. If I were an enemy I would be absolutely delighted that Bush is wasting so much of US national rescources on a system that probably will not work rather than tightening up border controls. I would not be surprised if in 50 years time the history books wrote of Bush that he laid America bare to the attacks of her enemies.

possumdag - 04:44pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3526 of 3547)
Possumdag@excite.com

Thread: Gu : Starwars

possumdag - 04:46pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3527 of 3547)
Possumdag@excite.com

If a missile is travelling from B to A and is intercepted and destroyed ... isn't there 'fallout' in a material sense -- wouldn't this be a litigational problem for country C that gets dumped on?

plus100db - 05:59pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3528 of 3547)

Think about why the Bush administration wants to go forward with a missile defense system that won't work most of the time. Answer: PORK GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.

Any government contemplating, reducing it's stockpile of ABM's, will now rethink that strategy. China is already negotiating with Russia for warheads.

Even if deployed, all it would create is a scenario, where a foreign adversary would fire more than enough missiles to get past the shield, and hit us. The ones that were unlucky enough to be intercepted and exploded in the atmosphere would spew radioactive dust as fallout over much of the planet.

Please oppose this madness, if not for public safety, then just to stop wasting our (tax) money. To quote Dubya, "It's our money, not the Governments money".

charlieb7a - 06:23pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3529 of 3547)

The old message or thinking everyone seems to be talking about has come back to the front for one reason, there are countries out there that now have nuclear capability and would use it under the right circumstances. Unfortunately, these countries are not predictable nor do they put much value on human life. Everyone is howling about cost and the system not working, but let's see what the reaction will be if Iraqu detonates a nuclear device over one of the large east coast cities or North Korea puts one in downtown LA. The cost of a missile defense system will seem like small potatos. I don't think this administration is planning on trying to knock every missle down Russia could through at this country, however someone had better take some steps about these other nations that are developing the potential to deliver a nuclear device to our door step.

jhayesboh - 06:46pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3530 of 3547)

Seems this forum is full of people bright enough to see this star wars nonsense for what it is. This is not surprising, since almost every person with even passing familiarity with the issues understands that missile defense is nonsense.

Unfortunately, in all of our country, it only takes a president, a vice president, 50 senators, and 228 representatives to push this one over on the rest of us. And those on the legislative side can be bought through "electoral engineering" of the final product.

Let's do what we can to stop them.

lunarchick - 06:50pm May 8, 2001 EST (#3531 of 3547)
lunarchick@www.com

Not seen Yanks on the Streets complaining .. on my tv news ... so i take it that most Yanks approve of Pork Barrelling .. agreed ?

(16 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense