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Who's minding the store?

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  • Who's minding the store?

    So while we're meddling in the rest of the world's business, we were supposed to test launch an interceptor missile to protect us from enemy missiles fired from Asia, and the test was aborted due to an "unknown abnormality". The interceptor missile, which was supposed to come from the Ronald Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Island this morning, automatically shut itself down. Officials can't describe what went wrong, but this was the first test firing of the missile in 2 years. In previous tests, the interceptor missed its target 3 out of 8 times. So if the fake bomb had been a real one from say, North Korea, we would have had a 38% chance of being the target of a nuclear warhead on our soil. I don't like those odds.

    I also don't like the fact that the majority of this country is still vulnerable to bioterrorism. Instead of sending billions more to support the war machine in Iraq, why not use the money to beef up our defenses in this country against attack? And of the money we've allocated for Homeland Security, why not allocate funds based on where the highest risk to the most people is (i.e., the blue states)? I think the reason the red staters voted for Bush is because they don't worry about things like bioterrorism or nuclear attacks because after all, they are stuck in the middle of the country.

    Miulang

    http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/15/mis....ap/index.html
    http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7d191c34-4e...00e2511c8.html
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: Who's minding the store?

    BTW:That little interceptor missile failure this morning cost us taxpayers $85 million. And the total cost of the antimissile project is $10 billion annually. I can think of multiple failed projects that could have used that $10 billion and done more to advance scientific understanding...

    Miulang

    http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.ph.../news/abm.html
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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    • #3
      Re: Who's minding the store?

      A test launch of an interceptor missile that is designed to thwart a nuclear missile directed at the US from Asia failed again yesterday, under very similar circumstances as a December launch failure.

      Um, so if Kim Jong Il decided to push the button tomorrow and the missile was aimed at Hawai'i or Alaska, everybody in those 2 states should just bend over and kiss their okoles goodbye???

      Interesting to note that at the end of the article there is a description of how we are ramping up building up to 10 more interceptor sites (Alaska currently has 6) next year. I wonder if that means that co-located with those interceptors are nuclear warheads too?

      Miulang
      "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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      • #4
        Re: Who's minding the store?

        I had the impression that the interceptors had no nuclear warheads, instead it tries to destory an incoming missile by ramming it. Also I noticed that the system seems to be designed against a lone missile or a few missiles coming towards the US, which might be a situation if there was an accidental launch and not the type of an all out missile attack upon the US.

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        • #5
          Re: Who's minding the store?

          Originally posted by helen
          I had the impression that the interceptors had no nuclear warheads, instead it tries to destory an incoming missile by ramming it. Also I noticed that the system seems to be designed against a lone missile or a few missiles coming towards the US, which might be a situation if there was an accidental launch and not the type of an all out missile attack upon the US.
          It might sense logistically (since they have to build silos for both the interceptors and the nuclear missiles) that they be located close to each other. Less upkeep, fewer people needed to guard them.

          Miulang
          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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