More
Matrix Masters
Blogs
World Events
US News
Science & Health
Earth News
Free Speech
News from Africa
News from Palestine
Bill of Rights Under Attack

Matrix Masters'
SUPPORTERS

Lorenzo's
Random Musings
. . . about Chaos,
Reason, and Hope

 

Pentagon Preps for War in Space
(Wired News, February 20, 2004)
An Air Force report is giving what analysts call the most detailed picture since the end of the Cold War of the Pentagon's efforts to turn outer space into a battlefield. . . . For years, the American military has spoken in hints and whispers, if at all, about its plans to develop weapons in space. But the U.S. Air Force Transformation Flight Plan (PDF) changes all that. Released in November, the report makes U.S. dominance of the heavens a top Pentagon priority in the new century. And it runs through dozens of research programs designed to ensure that America can never be challenged in orbit -- from anti-satellite lasers to weapons that "would provide the capability to strike ground targets anywhere in the world from space." . . . the Air Force report goes far beyond these defensive capabilities, calling for weapons that can cripple other countries' orbiters. . . . That prospect worries some analysts that the U.S. may spark a worldwide arms race in orbit. . . . "I don't think other countries will be taking this lying down," said Theresa Hitchens, the vice president of the Center for Defense Information. . . . The space weapons programs listed in the Air Force report went largely unnoticed until Hitchens circulated them in an e-mail Thursday. . . . "This will certainly prompt China into actually moving forward" on space weapon plans of its own, she added. "The Russians are likely to respond with something as well." . . . But it's unclear whether putting weapons into space would provide much protection. The arms themselves could become sitting ducks in orbit -- giving the United States a new weakness, not a new strength. . . . "Simply put, we would posture ourselves as a target in a volatile context that we create, and weaken ourselves at the same time," . . . "America is the country with the most satellites, he explained. By developing anti-satellite weapons, "it legitimizes systems that the U.S. has the most to lose from." Other countries could start pursuing long-taboo space weapons efforts. And while countries like China don't have the technical sophistication of the United States, they already have the capabilities to hurt us in space -- medium range missiles, and nuclear warheads. . . . Wright added, "This could trigger a backlash that actually leaves the U.S. worse off."

[COMMENT: What insanity. Even though the Pentagon admits that the Earth is faced with the very real threat of in imminent Ice Age, they continue to spend our tax dollars on war. Their report on radical climate change focuses on war rather than on peaceful solutions to the problems we have created. We are a nation gone mad.]

posted by Lorenzo 12:26 PM