OT: Question for US Members.

[Laughing Cow]

Hi.

Saw the news that Bush wants to start deploying this Missile defense shield in 2004.

Now, personally, I am a bit worried if it is a good thing to do, so far too many tests have failed and the cost seems a tad high.

Now here is a question for you Guys, since you sort of support the shield by paying your taxes.

1.) Does the USA have missiles that can hit Iran, Iraq and North Korea if launched from US soil?
2.) Do those countries have missiles that can reach the USA if launched from withing their Borders?

I know that missiles can be launched from ships and similar platforms, but thase could be tracked from the moment they leave those countries.

If said platforms are close to US-soil will the shield still be effective. launch warnings, minimum ranges, etc.

3,) Do you think that the shield will work during a real attack and be worth the money it costs to build and maintain.

Just curious how you People feel about this.

[norther practitioner]

When I heard that the Pentagon got hit by a plane I was astonished, I figured the ground would open up and whatever was flying toward it would be evaporated. Anyhow, as far as this goes, our weapons are off the wall, we have missles and rockets and other things I dreamed of when watching cartoons as a kid that can do more damage than one could imagine. We also have other weapons being developed that scares a lot of people. As far as there ranges, I am not too sure, but I would have to imagine we could bomb California from NY going the long way if need be.

Here are a few interesting links....


http://multimedia.belointeractive.com/attack/military/background.html
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/index.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,821306,00.html

[red5angel]

I don't know much about the missile shield yet or how well it works. I can tell you that we can bomb the crap out of just about any country on the planet if we so got the urge. not just from Submarines, planes and boats either.
As far as I know, none of those countries has the ability to reach us at the moment. I am not sure if Iran even has nuclear weapons....

http://www.nuclearfiles.org/data/inventory-us.html

[Hai_To]

We can hit them (Iran, Iraq & N. Korea), but they cannot hit back (excluding terror attacks). Why pick on somebody who can hit back?

I think the missle shield is a complete and utter waste of money. It is a political ploy to throw more money at the defense industry (an additional $1.5 billion on top of the $8 billion already allocated to the Pentagon for this project) while offering platitudes to the US public where this adminsitration can say "See, we are doing something about national defense." From what I understand (and I could be wrong), the tests of the missle interceptors have been an unmitigated disaster. They don't work, even when the tests are rigged. Even the yeoman's work done by the Patriot missles during the Gulf War is a myth. From what I've read (and, once again, I could be wrong), the Patriots missed most of the SCUDS that were launched during the war.

To answer your questions in brief,

1) Yes
2) No
3) No

[ewallace]

1. As far as I know, yes.
2. As far as I know, no.
3. I don't think it's such a great idea. Any country who fired a missle directed towards the US would pretty much be committing suicide. I am inclined to think that the whole program is almost a deterrent. Kind of along the lines of "If you fire a missle at us, chances are it won't reach it's target. Then we will unleash hell in a tube upon your country, and chances are good that map-makers will be busy for the next few years".

But I know very little about the whole program and my opinion is pure speculation.

[BeiKongHui]

We here in the USA have decided to abandon reason. So that said the missle defense system is not really about defense but rather about pay back to big companies who have (or will) employed most of the current administration. Here whatever is politically expedient is what's done. Right or wrong has nothing to do with it.

[MightyB]

Do you know that in the worst incident of the cold war... the Cuban Missile Crisis, that the only thing that averted total Nuclear war was Russia's fear of our Nuclear capability? I heard it described as, a Russian Nuke could hit Washington DC, an American Nuke could score a three pointer in a downtown Russian high school, all net no boards.

Hats of to Kruchef though. He pulled the biggest bluff ever. He'd be great at poker. He knew that Russia would have been destroyed where America would have been dented, yet he had us scared for years.

Some speculate that it was the threat of the Reagan administration Star Wars program that ended the Cold War and led to the massive de-esculation of military industrial might in both the US and Soviet Union.

I miss the Russians, they were at least sane.

[ewallace]

I miss the Russians, they were at least sane.
I came here tonight, and didn't no what to expect. I seen alot of people hating me, and didn't no what to feel about that so I's guess I didn't like yous none much either. During this fight i seen alot of changing, the way yous felt about me, and the way I's felt about you. Up here there was two guys killing eachother, but i guess thats better than 20 million, so i guess what i'm trying to say is that if I can change, and you can change, EVERYBODY CAN CHANGE! I just wanna say one thing to my kid who should be home sleepin, MERRY CHRKISTMAS KID!

[brothernumber9]

ewallace

Thats the funniest! I say that line all the time at my school when people are trying to eat.