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![[F]](../_images/site.gif) New York Times on the Web Forums 
Science
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.
 
  (426 previous messages)
lchic
- 01:52am Mar 13, 2002 EST (#427
of 484)
Greg Smith - genius for PEACE :
... Greg responded to the turmoil around him by using the
world's interest in a child genius to campaign against violence.
"There was enormous violence in my high school. Armed security
patrolled the halls. Fights broke out," Greg remembers. When he
started speaking out for peace, though, "a lot of people thought
what I was saying was true and supported me."
... Until then, the family had eschewed publicity, but now,
intent on promoting his cause, Greg began appearing on "Oprah" and
"Letterman," where he smiled politely as his famous hosts fawned
over the pint-size prodigy. It was only a matter of time before
Greg drew the attention of a small group of Nobel laureates who
saw in him their perfect spokeschild.
... Greg has made the acquaintance of a handful of Nobel peace
laureates. Because Greg had a previous speaking engagement in
Denver, he had to decline an invitation from the Dalai Lama, but
he hopes to have another chance. He has discussed current events
with world leaders, lunched with Mikhail Gorbachev and Queen Noor,
shaken hands in the Oval Office with President Clinton, and been
blessed by tribal elders in a desolate African village. His simple
appeal for nonviolence and human rights for children has
mushroomed into a philanthropic foundation called International
Youth Advocates, with young representatives around the world
speaking out on behalf of the world's innocents. Last year alone,
Greg Smith traveled to six countries on four continents to lobby
on behalf of children whose lives have been shattered by war and
violence and poverty. He writes and delivers eloquent speeches and
personally answers some of the thousand-plus e-mails and letters
he receives each week.
wrcooper
- 08:16am Mar 13, 2002 EST (#428
of 484)
MIT's Technology Review devotes a large portion of its April
issue to missile defense. Read the intro to Theodore Postol's article
critical of the program. You have to buy the mag or pay $4.50 online
to read the entire ~5,000-wd piece.
lchic
- 08:25am Mar 13, 2002 EST (#429
of 484)
from above: On June 23, 1997, a prototype of a U.S.
military “kill vehicle” designed to intercept nuclear missiles
lifted off from a launch pad on the South Pacific atoll of
Kwajalein. Its purpose was not to seek out and destroy. Instead,
it was to fly by and observe a group of objects that had been
launched into space more than 20 minutes earlier from Vandenberg
Air Force Base near Santa Barbara, CA, almost 8,000 kilometers
away—and determine whether it was possible to distinguish a cloud
of decoys from the mock warhead they protected.
It was a big day for nuclear missile defense. Since the decoys
used in this experiment were of very simple design, if the
experiment showed that the warhead could not be reliably
identified, it could mean the whole Star Wars defense plan would
for all practical purposes be unworkable, since the most primitive
of adversaries could defeat it with the simplest of decoys. Of
even greater importance, it would also be a clear demonstration of
the fundamental physical reasons why any missile defense that
relied on kill vehicles of this type could never be successful.
It worked—at least that’s what we were told. But shortly after
the experiment flew, three courageous people—a former employee of
defense contractor TRW turned whistle-blower, a TRW retiree and a
U.S. Department of Defense investigator—brought new evidence to
light (see “Postol vs. the Pentagon”). Their information, coupled
with my own investigation and repeated calls for a full accounting
from U.S. representatives Howard Berman and Edward Markey, pointed
to a different story—one of failure, a finding seemingly confirmed
this February by a draft of a Government Accounting Office
follow-on study, as reported by the journal Science. I believe
that the top management of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency
(previously known as the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization)
and its contractors have misrepresented or distorted the results
derived from the experiment and rigged the follow-on test program
that continues to this day. These deliberate actions have hidden
the system’s critical vulnerabilities from the White House,
Congress and the American citizens whom the missile defense
program was supposed to protect.
lchic
- 08:30am Mar 13, 2002 EST (#430
of 484)
Four Corners asks whether the missile defence umbrella will
fulfil its mission in stopping attacks on the US fr ... the
physicist who first blew the whistle on alleged fraud in missile
defence tests results, Theodore Postol. see 'Rogue State' http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/archives/2001b_Monday6August2001.htm
lchic
- 09:06am Mar 13, 2002 EST (#431
of 484)
Postal spoke the truth
Postal spoke out
Postal was
threatened
That his zone of MIT
Would have funding
Removed
http://papertoys.com/statue.htm
almarst-2001
- 10:16am Mar 13, 2002 EST (#432
of 484)
"funding Removed"
Kill the messanger?
almarst-2001
- 10:25am Mar 13, 2002 EST (#433
of 484)
MD or Not, the Space is on the way to be converted from the
Military Observation and Spying Post into the Ground Attack Base -
"Odissey 2020".
almarst-2001
- 11:00am Mar 13, 2002 EST (#434
of 484)
MAD - The loaded GUN is the best equalizer between Mike
Tyson and Woody Allen. That may keep both of them alive even if not
being able to find a common langauge;)
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