[Peace-discuss] News notes 041031

[Morton K.Brussel]

Good summary, Carl.

I wanted to mention that the claim by the pentagon for having "a 
limited defense missile system in place by the year's end" is a lot of 
baloney to justify all the money being wasted. The system is untested 
in any realistic measure. Someday, as more billions are poured into it, 
it may achieve some effectiveness, but that is not the case now; most 
non-pentagon scientists are of this opinion. A sidelight: The U.S. is 
now evidently threatening Europe's plans for its own global positioning 
system---destroying the system if "necessary", for it would allow it 
and other nations (China, Israel,…) to do what only the U.S. at present 
can do effectively---pinpoint military objectives and guide missiles to 
them.

mkb


On Oct 31, 2004, at 8:47 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>
> [6. US WMD] The Pentagon claims it will have a limited missile defense
> system in place by year's end.  "Missile defense" is of course 
> Orwellian
> language: this is a first-strike weapon, designed to make offensive 
> use of
> American nuclear missiles possible by preventing any retaliation.
> 	Meanwhile, Journalist Frank Sietzen, who recently represented the
> Bush camp in a policy debate, told a gathering in Washington, "the
> administration is reviewing whether or not we want to be signatory" to 
> the
> 1967 United Nations Treaty on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. A State
> Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the
> government no longer agrees with the treaty's provisions against 
> placing
> weapons of mass destruction in orbit and using celestial bodies such as
> the moon and Mars for non-peaceful purposes. [DN]