Administration Responds to North Korea Missile Stunt With Missile Defense Stunt
Administration Responds to North Korea Missile Stunt With Missile Defense Stunt
The Bush administration has responded to a North Korean missile that doesn’t work by activating an anti-missile system that doesn’t work. From Reuters:
The United States has moved its ground-based interceptor missile defense system from test mode to operational amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch, a U.S. defense official said on Tuesday. …
“It’s good to be ready,” the official said.
But we’re not “ready.” The interceptors the administration has placed in silos in Alaska have never been realistically tested and are known to have serious operational problems. They have as much chance of hitting an incoming missile as a kid with a slingshot.
Fortunately, the missile the North Koreans may test does not work either. The last time they fired a long-range missile was in 1998, it went about 1300 killometers and failed to put its tiny payload into orbit.
The North Korean test is a political stunt designed to grab some attention. The same can be said of the decision to activate the Alaska site. The North Koreans want to increase their negotiation leverage; the U.S. Missile Defense Agency wants to protect its massive $10 billion annual budget — “more than the entire U.S. Army is spending on research and development” — for a product that doesn’t work.
We have to hope that neither stunt succeeds.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
94 Responses to “Administration Responds to North Korea Missile Stunt With Missile Defense Stunt”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Think ProgressContact Us
Donate
Typical Bush ploy. Good at photo ops but very poor at real actions. This anti-missile defense is a big hole that we pour money into to fund some defense corporations CEO’s trust fund. More graft and incompetence.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:18 pmHow long will it take for the Republicans to tell you that uncovering the fact that our missile defnse system doesn’t work, will endager us, because no the terrorists no we’re vulnerable?
I don’t want to wait, so let me just say that if Americans know about these failed systems too, maybe we can actually DO something about it. Because this administrations sure wont do anything usefull.
And the terrorists, whomever they may be, will find this kind of thing out anyway.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:19 pmOh boy it looks like Bush might press the “Red Button” by mistake and set off global nuclear war?! Dubya Dunce Decider is too imbecilic to be in the White House > PERIOD.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:20 pmoh my tot whats next? a political stunt? comin out the republican guardia?
June 20th, 2006 at 5:20 pmHypothetical here - assume the government does nothing. what if N. Korea fires a missle and it actually worked, and by some fluke it was heading to the US and actually hit some where. Wouldn’t there be a hue and cry that the government did nothing? Instead, it prepares a system that could work (time will tell), and if it was needed, and didn’t work, they’rre no worse off than if they did nothing!
June 20th, 2006 at 5:20 pm“…because NOW the terrorists KNOW we’re vulnerable?” (I typed too fast - trying to be post #1, sorry about that.)
June 20th, 2006 at 5:21 pmGood point Rick,
The thread is about political stunts however.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:23 pmBozo the Clown and Krusty the Clown are playing King of the Hill with peoples’ lives and hard earned money…
And people wonder why I have issues with “authority”…
June 20th, 2006 at 5:24 pm“Now which one of them there buttons do I press just to make the system activated, but not do anything?”
“Mr. President, don’t hit that big button over there”
“You mean this one” buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,
June 20th, 2006 at 5:25 pmYa know why OUR missile defense shield doesn’t work, don’t ya? You betcha - - Clinton.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:27 pm“They have as much chance of hitting an incoming missile as a kid with a slingshot.”
Wern’t they 5/8 for tests? Not perfect, but better then 0/8 if the on switch is set to off.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:29 pm3 - He’s managed to not push the button for 5 and a half years…what makes you think he’d do it now?
June 20th, 2006 at 5:29 pmBadmoodman,
thats not really you, stop using others’ names.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:31 pmWhy should we hope that our Missle Defense doesn’t work? Even though it was a massive waste of money, I still hope the damn things works. Why would anyone, including this website, hope for our missle system to miss an incoming ICBM aimed at California?
June 20th, 2006 at 5:31 pmTwo words: Maginot Line
June 20th, 2006 at 5:34 pmFor Truth: “Badmoodman, thats not really you, stop using others’ names.” - - Ummm. . . huh??
June 20th, 2006 at 5:34 pm#5 - By that same argument, we should all build tornado cellars and hurricane cellars and stock up on food, becuase if we don’t and a hurricane or tornado hits us then we’re safe, but if we don’t and it does happen then we’re out of luck.
Or even better, why don’t we spend trillions of dollars on a system that they’ve had to fake in order to get results they wanted (rather than the miserable failure they got when they tried it without the homing beacon). I mean, it’s not like the United States cares if we’re 9 plus trillion dollars in debt or 19 plus trillion dollars in debt. It’s much better to pay for a system that has no successful tests than it is to try and get a dictator to disarm.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:34 pm7 - what is the definition of “political stunts”? Just want to be sure I keep focused the right way!
June 20th, 2006 at 5:35 pmWow, the missle defense system that doesn’t work vs. the missle that doesn’t work. See, we’re both winners, what’s the problem? Jesus christ, makes me long for the days of the cold war… at least they weren’t inept (much).
June 20th, 2006 at 5:39 pm#11 - Actually, they’re more like 0/3.
Test one: did the test interceptor rocket fire? Yes it did! Success! (Who couldn’t get this one to work?)
Test two: did the test interceptor rocket reach the top of the projected trajectory? Yes it did! Success!
Test three: did the test interceptor rocket “see” the fast missle? No?!?! Darn! Try again!
Test four: did the test interceptor rocket “see” the slow missle? No?!?! Darn! Try again!
Test five: did the test interceptor rocket “see” the missle with the homing beacon in the nose? Yes it did! Success!
After you rig the test, I think you’re invalidating the working conditions. Unless we can get N. Korea to put a homing beacon in the payload of their nuclear missiles. Hmmm….
June 20th, 2006 at 5:41 pm#18 - Now you’re asking the right questions!
A “Political stunt” is always what your opponent does and never what you’re doing.
See how easy it is to tell? -)
June 20th, 2006 at 5:43 pmWhadda Wedo About ‘dem Norks?…
It really is sad when life imitates “Team America: World Police.” But it is. Kim Jong-il has distracted us all. From the CFR, to “Condi Rice’s stenographer of choice” at the New York Times Helene Cooper, to William Arkin over at the Washington Pos…
June 20th, 2006 at 5:50 pm17 - I’m trying to be well behaved on this thread. I think a lot of folks who live in tornado prone areas DO have tornado save shelters, equipped with food, water, etc. I think most of them that have them sleep better knowing they have them and may never use them than those who don’t have them and wish after a tornado roars through that they did!
I suppose if there was a way to uninvent the splitting of the atom, and since there is not, if there was a way to 100% guarantee the likes of Kim Jong-il won’t use a nuclear device against the US, then I’d agree with you. But since neither of those can happen, then I guess the government needs to take some steps to do its best to protect its citizens.
It is unfortunate the deficit is so high. I’m not a fan of it that high either.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:51 pmWe hope that the missle defence system doesn’t work?
June 20th, 2006 at 5:52 pmSure…….good point Rick….keep your hat on and no one will notice.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:53 pmThis is simply a lame assed attempt to raise the fear of the no-minds in America.
Tracy,
You hope, that we hope the defense system doesn’t work. You are vicariously hoping for it to fail too!
June 20th, 2006 at 5:56 pmnewscast from later this year, maybe the begniing of next…
“no one anticipated any problems with the missle defense program,” said tony snow “and we will fully investigate how it could have struck down that commerical 747″
June 20th, 2006 at 5:56 pmRick,
Sorry you have to try to be well-behaved.
June 20th, 2006 at 5:57 pmOn Fox News, they had a commentator on who was on to talk about this missle - and he said so clearly “….if it IS a test.” - I thought that was a nice scare tactic to Fox watchers. I couldn’t believe that anyone “credible” would even suggest that N. Korea is preparing a pre-emptive strike on the US. Now I realize that the government of N. Korea might be a little nuts (possibly an understatement), but surely they realize that a single strike on the US would mean “Lake N. Korea” in short order.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:01 pmIf you want something to work, it must first be acknowledged that it doesn’t. If it does work, great. I would rather be told it aint working yet, and we have “2 of our best guys on it” than “it works just fine” and it really doesn’t.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:01 pm21 - Does the Bill Clinton “crying” at the Ron Brown funeral qualify as a political stunt? http://www.gargaro.com/Autotear.avi
June 20th, 2006 at 6:06 pmRick,
June 20th, 2006 at 6:10 pmNo, those are called emotions, something Bushco is incapable of even faking.
#34,
Yes Rick it does, next.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:10 pmThe failure of our missle defense system has been an ongoing issue, it’s no secret. And now it may need to really work. So whats wrong with complaining that it aint workin?
June 20th, 2006 at 6:13 pmim sorry but carnegie said the last missle failed? um.. what about that?
June 20th, 2006 at 6:15 pmPolitical stunt, no, unless he called the cameras to be there…a knee jerk reaction yes, I have been to too many funerals, and there are is always surface tension, or anxiety broken up with humor…the about face Clinton did is a transparent reaction to the camera, but not as bad as Bush flicking it off
June 20th, 2006 at 6:16 pm#29
From the posts I have read so far I know that everyone here doesn’t hope that it fails…other Joe Cirincione and TP?
“You are vicariously hoping for it to fail too!”
How do you figure?
June 20th, 2006 at 6:25 pm#33
I don’t recall that Bush administration touting that this missle defence system “works just fine”. I am just making a point and am not calling you on your comment…I agree with it.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:28 pmTracy,
I am just using some of the twisted logic I have seen the Right use. Just kidding. And thank you for acknowledging that we do not want the system to fail.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:28 pm36 - Okay, I’ll leave that one be, I made my point.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:29 pm37 - I remember reading an article years ago about a young man in Canada named Terry Fox. He was running across Canada in an effort to raise money and awareness about cancer (he himself was a cancer victim, having lost his leg to bone cancer). Halfway across his journey, his cancer returned and it was in his lungs and other organs. His doctors said his condition was terminal. In an attempt to fight that cancer his doctors tried a treatment of drugs that they weren’t sure would work, but it was worth the risk to avoid sure death. As it turned out, the drugs didn’t work, but his family said after his death they were glad they tried that treatment rather than not trying it and having their son die and wondering if they should have tried the treatment. I see similarities here. If the system might work, then prepare it. Did it not work in the past? Yup, no question, but it is being improved each day and each test. Maybe 5 years from now, people will look at that system as “standard”. Who knows!
Please please please fire one or two ABMs at a Korean missile. PLEASE! What a great embarrassment that will be when the ABMs dutifully shoot up, drift off-course and miss. It will finally allow us to put that craptacular waste to bed…again.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:30 pmFair enough Rick, as it stands today, it might work. Better than nothing.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:31 pmIf the dunces in the Congress had raised the minimum wage a damn quarter a year after 1998, then it would be $7.15 this year! The Congress gave themselves automatic pay increases, but according to them those on the bottom deserve nothing? The pay raises for every member of Congress since 1998 should be revoked > that would put them back to around $150,000 a year instead of $168,500 now!
June 20th, 2006 at 6:32 pmCan’t Bush and Kim Jong-il just play a game of Missle Command, and winner gets to spank the loser on TV.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:34 pm#44
You say that untill a real nuclear tipped missle is heading for your home! LOL!
We now have at a failure promoter in this thread. Anyone want to be next?
June 20th, 2006 at 6:34 pmI intended post 46 for the Kennedy thread on min wage > whoops wrong thread > I goofed > lol.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:36 pmAre these the new missiles that were suppposed to go on the subs or the ones in Alaska converted to the ships? It’s confusing.
As far as effectiveness, the Uzbekistan missiles worked fine and no one checked or nothin.’ Just put it up in the air in time for Paris hitlon and Much Music party satellite coverage to 65 countries. North korea can’t? Putin did the same thing with the 7 hour nuclear war and the point was the missiles were’nt supposed to work until he launched the third generation, which did. I think after Powell begged they gave a 24 hour ‘we may’ notice. So, Putin is in Shanghai watching soccer and North Korea gets an idea as Uzbekistan launches, why can’t North Korea?
June 20th, 2006 at 6:51 pmNo Tracy, no one else wants to be next.
Hey each side has “representatives” we really wouldn’t want representing us, you have World Net Daily, No?
June 20th, 2006 at 6:51 pm#47 - For Truth - Ha ha - that’d be perfect! :) Perhaps we just need to buy them both a Nintendo and hook ‘em up with a “direct line” - and let ‘em “slug it out” - virtually, of course. :)
June 20th, 2006 at 6:59 pmHow does Cirincione know that our missiles don’t work if they’ve never been realistically tested? Sounds like he is jumping the gun on attacking our own nation’s defenses.
June 20th, 2006 at 7:15 pm#53 They have never been SUCCESSFULLY tested under realistic conditions. Big difference there.
Let me dumb it down for you. I have a parachute that I tested in a wind tunnel. It only passed the test if I added some special mechanical device to help it. Completely unrealistic. Now, would you trust that parachute? After all, how do you know it won’t work if it’s never been tested under realistic conditions?
June 20th, 2006 at 7:22 pmIts time we all go live at Seixon’s place in Norway, we will all be there at 6, I want clean linens, and my bed turned. Norway may be one of a few safe places in the next 50 years or so.
June 20th, 2006 at 7:26 pm#55 - For Truth - haha - well with such a crowd arriving, perhaps it’d have to be a BYOSB (Bring Your Own Sleeping Bag) :)
June 20th, 2006 at 7:32 pmredneck hick,
After all, how do you know it won’t work if it’s never been tested under realistic conditions?
That’s precisely what I asked, and the answer is that you don’t know, yet Cirincione says that they don’t work. How does he know? Psychic? Jumping the gun on evaluating our national defenses?
They need to be realistically tested before you can conclude that they don’t work.
June 20th, 2006 at 7:32 pmRealistic conditions or otherwise, this system has a pretty crappy batting average in the staged trials.
I’m glad they turned it on and all, but only Wile E. Coyote would see this as a reason to sleep more soundly tonight.
June 20th, 2006 at 8:09 pmMaybe you guys should check out our missile defence site . They have had quite a few successful tests . In all 3 stages of flight any wmds launched at the us would be distroyed .Realy check out the site you may feel a little more at ease if your worried
June 20th, 2006 at 8:15 pmGive the North Koreans the coordinates to Ted Stevens’ office.
June 20th, 2006 at 8:20 pm#61 - Easy:
Lat: 61:12:55.764N
Lon: 149:53:8.797W
That’s his Alaska office, of course. :)
(Now now, anyone can get that on the ‘net!)
June 20th, 2006 at 8:41 pm#60 Got link?
MSN had this on June 16th:
“In eight intercept tests of the ground-based missile defense system, the interceptor has hit a mock incoming warhead five times. Testing was suspended after interceptors failed to leave their silos during tests in December 2004 and February 2005 — failures blamed on quality-control issues.
…
“The test failures and technical challenges have delayed plans to declare it operational, although commanders say it has a rudimentary capability against a limited missile attack.”
“Rudimentary capability against a limited missile attack” is not an inspiring assessment.
In any event, I’,m not too concerned about NK’s Taepdong missile. I’m frankly more fearful of my own half-witted leaders.
June 20th, 2006 at 8:44 pmHopefully we won’t have to know if either works.
Andy Pass
June 20th, 2006 at 8:52 pmhttp://www.Pass-Ed.com/blogger.html
http://www.mda.mil/mdalink/html/images.html has videos pics and all sorts of cool stuff .
June 20th, 2006 at 9:09 pmyou have to go to the links section to find the videos of the tests
June 20th, 2006 at 9:12 pmdid you see the airborn laser thats my favorite . it took them 5 years just to build the lense for it . ive seen the ground based one knock out short range missiles but that one is realy cool .mounts on the front of a plane and could me used to get realy close to the target
June 20th, 2006 at 9:19 pmoh and the sea based xband radar recently deployed to detect any incoming misiles check that out too
June 20th, 2006 at 9:23 pmredneck hick,
After all, how do you know it won’t work if it’s never been tested under realistic conditions?
That’s precisely what I asked, and the answer is that you don’t know, yet Cirincione says that they don’t work. How does he know? Psychic? Jumping the gun on evaluating our national defenses?
They need to be realistically tested before you can conclude that they don’t work.
Comment by Seixon — June 20, 2006 @ 7:32 pm
June 20th, 2006 at 10:07 pmNorway Bob, I will try to be polite. I worked on those systems. The engineering is fantastic, The problem is there are very easy counter defenses . Thermal for one. Very hard to defeat. Some are so easy that you rethugs can not even understand. For every offensive weapon there is a counter weapon. You are a very sick person. You do not have any advanced degrees. You can hide out in Norway however it dose not change the fact you are single cell.
did you see the airborn laser thats my favorite . it took them 5 years just to build the lense for it . ive seen the ground based one knock out short range missiles but that one is realy cool .mounts on the front of a plane and could me used to get realy close to the target
Comment by mikmis — June 20, 2006 @ 9:19 pm
oh and the sea based xband radar recently deployed to detect any incoming misiles check that out too
Comment by mikmis — June 20, 2006 @ 9:23 pm
Mikmis- Your snorting coke like your fearless leader. The system will never protect against a massive missile attack with advanced counter electronics. I love the technology–but, any advanced nation can defeat it. Like(ballons,tin foil streamers, And stuff I won’t post but the bad guys know.
June 20th, 2006 at 10:17 pmHey Joe,
I understand what you say, the thing wouldn’t work well with many targets, poor visibility, etc. But its better than nothing.
June 20th, 2006 at 10:30 pmSince Dough Book posted on the recent Murtha thread,
June 20th, 2006 at 10:36 pm“Murtha takes the defeatist philosophy of the democratic party nationwide. And when asked about his suggestion of re-deployment, he raises Okinowa(SIC) as a good base of operations. The fact that it’s 4600 miles from Iraq doesn’t seem to be a problem,”
I wonder what he has to say about this news. I pointed out in reply to his comment that Okinawa is close to North Korea, which actually does have WMD. And, in fact, Okinawa is now being used for some of the testing described in this thread. So, Doug, are you still claiming that Murtha has a defeatist philosophy or will you admit that he may have recognized the very realistic threat from North Korea?
Mikmis- Your snorting coke like your fearless leader. The system will never protect against a massive missile attack with advanced counter electronics. I love the technology–but, any advanced nation can defeat it. Like(ballons,tin foil streamers, And stuff I won’t post but the bad guys know.
joe your rite no one could protect themselvs form a massive missile attack ,thats what keeps us safe from all of the other superpowers. were all at a stalemate .if that were to happen we would all be wiped out .the threat that exsists now, that we are talking about is nk or iran that dosnt have the capibility of a massive attack. we need to make sure that they arent able to achieve that.!!!!!!
June 20th, 2006 at 11:12 pmonly so we can get rid of our own nukes too at least thats what i think im all for disarming .
June 20th, 2006 at 11:19 pmthe only question i have is how far out of nk will we let that missile go befor we blast it .i guess we will see .
June 20th, 2006 at 11:33 pmIf it succeeds, then it is not a stunt. Way to go fools, hope for the failure of a defensive shield, so as to make the president look bad. And you wonder why noone trusts the lunatic left.
June 20th, 2006 at 11:39 pmsnowball cut that crap out.
June 20th, 2006 at 11:48 pmThe US deploys a system that is easily defeated using cheap counter measures. Of course, any nation that would launch a missile at the US is committing suicide as the response would be swift and overwhelming. I think it is far more likely to have a nuke smuggled into the US than some rogue nation committing suicide.
June 21st, 2006 at 12:15 amDoes the Bill Clinton “crying†at the Ron Brown funeral qualify as a political stunt?
Comment by rickd — June 20, 2006 @ 6:06 pm
hmm… the “true colors” always show up.
June 21st, 2006 at 12:21 amYou mean like when US used twice nukes over civilians back in 1945? Oh, you added this:
ahhh, it really doesnt feel the same when the nukes are pointing at you, right?
June 21st, 2006 at 12:40 amI hope the missle defense does not succeed too, and I hope Kim’s missle lands on your head, you asshats
June 21st, 2006 at 1:45 amSo this article is based on an analysis done in in June 2001? And that missile that was launched in 1998, went clear over Japan and into the Pacific, indicating that N.Korea is capable of sending a missile straight into Tokyo. Maybe no concern to You who’s writing in the US, but this Taepodong-2, which is fully fueled, has a range of 9300km, enough to go to Alaska, California, Washington state, Etc. Whether or not this missile will detonate and dump nuclear radiation is not the only problem we face. Just having a missile land in San Francisco, or Pearl Harbor Hawaii, will be enough to stir a lot of destruction. 2 planes Hitting the twin towers with nuclear core what so ever, killed over 3,000 people. So I don’t see why your taking this lightly?!
June 21st, 2006 at 2:09 amAlso wanted to mention that …just like in poker, when your down to your last few chips… you go “all in”. The same can be said with a country that has left its ppl starving in the dark (ie no electricity… no night lights, no heat, and dead cars) for decades, all to fund and fuel their military growth, is probably set on using them.
June 21st, 2006 at 2:18 amOn Fox News, they had a commentator on who was on to talk about this missile - and he said so clearly “….if it IS a test.†- I thought that was a nice scare tactic to Fox watchers. I couldn’t believe that anyone “credible†would even suggest that N. Korea is preparing a pre-emptive strike on the US. Now I realize that the government of N. Korea might be a little nuts (possibly an understatement), but surely they realize that a single strike on the US would mean “Lake N. Korea†in short order. — MrTimPA
*********************
If North Korea were the only country at issue, Tim, I might be inclined to agree with you. However, it appears that you and a number of other people on this board are failing to take into consideration North Korea’s neighbor to the north. Very large, more people than any other country on earth, nuclear power…goes by the name of China? Yes, I know that the United States is doing business with them but it is not necessarily safe to conclude from this that they are our friends or our allies — and no matter what dealings they may have with us, I sincerely doubt that they would take kindly to seeing nukes and/or other assorted weaponry, armaments, etc. lobbed so close to their front porch. Let’s not forget that China has its own issues with the United States on the subject of Taiwan — and if I’m not mistaken, didn’t Chinese forces fight alongside the North Koreans during the Korean War? Even though China has come out against the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea and is not quite the unconditional ally they once may have been, the two countries nevertheless have a long-standing friendship — and if forced to choose between casting their lot with us against North Korea, or with North Korea against us, there’s no guarantee that they would choose us. To those who scoff at the idea of such a small country as North Korea serving as the fuse to the powderkeg, let’s not forget that World War I was touched off by one citizen (not even the ruler) of a comparatively small nation (Serbia) who assassinated the heir to the throne of a much larger nation (the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Such things ARE possible — unlikely, perhaps, but nonetheless possible.
Let’s face it…if there is any country left in the world which still has the potential to present a serious threat to the United States in a head-to-head conflict, that country is almost certainly China. If we succeeded in winning such a conflict (although this is by no means assured either), there is at least a fair-to-middling chance that our victory would be something of a Pyrrhic one. The ties between China and North Korea cannot and should not be dismissed from the equation out of hand. My concern (although I sincerely hope it proves itself unjustified) is that a successful North Korean missile test will put us in something of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t position. If the missile test should succeed and our missile defense fail, it would show that we are not invulnerable. I may vehemently disagree with the views of my conservative opponents — yet contrary to what some no doubt might be inclined to believe, I would not wish them to fall victim to a mushroom cloud (I only wish I could say the same for many of them). I’m inclined to think that one of the earlier posters may be right when he thinks it unlikely that Kim Il-Jong would go to such extreme lengths to develop weapons that he has no serious intention of using. If the missile test succeeds and our missile defense succeeds in shooting it down, Kim Il-Jong strikes me as unstable enough to the point where he might still declare this an official Act of War — he has, after all, indicated that he has developed nuclear weapons and will use them if the United States takes military or other aggressive action against the United States. The idea of a country the size of North Korea declaring war on the United States may seem ludicrous to the point of being laughable…but to my way of thinking, add China to the equation and suddenly it doesn’t seem quite so funny as it did a second ago.
June 21st, 2006 at 5:25 am“We have to hope that neither stunt succeeds.”
Why would we have to hope? Clearly, the missile defense system won’t work, right? The systems “have never been realistically tested and are known to have serious operational problems. They have as much chance of hitting an incoming missile as a kid with a slingshot.”
How could it possibly work? If it can’t possibly work, then why would we have to “hope” that it doesn’t.
It almost sounds like you think it MIGHT work, and that if it did work, that would be a disaster.
It’s almost as if you think, on the off chance it DOES work, then it wouldn’t have been a stunt after all, but rather an effective way of demonstrating to North Korea that even if it spends money building missiles instead of feeding its people, it would have been a waste of their time.
And it almost seems like you “hope” it doesn’t work, so that you can be proven right in your assertion that it could never work.
Otherwise, you’d look like a complete idiot for having said it could never work better than a kid with a slingshot.
Oh … now I understand why you hope it doesn’t work. Makes sense now.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:20 amBah humbug, all that flapping around like fools, its obvious man was never meant to fly, but some of those idiots dream about reaching the moon.
Others dream about protecting their friends, family, and even the local champagne socialists from a deranged pyschotic who is willing to starve his population for the most phallic symbol in a 3rd world dictators imagination, an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile.
So, GWB isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. His 2nd term is almost up. he can never be the prez again.
June 21st, 2006 at 7:31 amHow many americans will GWB starve before he’s gone?
How many north koreans will Kim starve before he’s gone?
I cannot understand the mentality that would hope our ballistic defense missile system won’t work. What insanity.
In fact, however, it has successfully intercepted more targets than it has missed. In the endeavor of trying to shoot a bullet with a bullet, 4 for 7 is not a bad track record. And that is, in fact, the system’s track record. . .although you’d never know it from the link provided above. Far from the ‘better chance of hitting a missile with a slingshot’ statement. I guess cherry picking from the available information on the topic makes it easier to portray this as a “stunt”.
To paraphrase Tacitus, who apparently understood politics far better than the author of the article above, to allow one slight against you is to encourage the commission of others.
June 21st, 2006 at 10:26 amActually, Clinton poured the most money in missile defense since Reagan. Clinton was big into Defense R&D CEOs (e.g., Loral), and if you were an engineer in the mid-to-late ’90s (like I was), Clinton spent billions and billions on TMD as well as NMD. W. actually fielded TMD, eliminating high-budget R&D and bringing costs down, while pushing NMD forward while Clinton had left it a stangant money pit (long story — e.g., honoring stupid 1970s Soviet-era agreements).
June 21st, 2006 at 10:41 amThank You, Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright! That Agreed Framework really turned out gangbusters, huh? Can’t wait to see a similar Bush plan work as well with Iran. Friggin’ liberal wack jobs keep getting us killed by the bushel. If they had stopped hitler in 1936, 50 million people wouldn’t have had to die. I wonder how many liberalism is going to murder by negligence and blind idealism and pacifism this time!
June 21st, 2006 at 12:06 pmI don’t know if the “stunt” line really applies here fellas. The last td-2 test in 1998 flew over Japanese soil, a case-closed infringement on Japan’s sovereign borders.
This was a very thin assessment of the MDS and the politics behind its development. Not everything is a conspiracy guys, relax.
June 21st, 2006 at 12:58 pmNorth Korea,the United States.
Name two countries with dangerous leaders.
June 21st, 2006 at 4:33 pmI wonder how many liberalism is going to murder by negligence and blind idealism and pacifism this time!
Comment by John Simpson
June 21st, 2006 at 4:39 pm========================
Do you prefer the old-fashioned kind of murder,such as the invasion of a nation using lies and distortions?
[…] Those American patriots at thinkprogress.org openly state they want our missle defense system to fail when North Korea launches their ICBM. Yeah, they really said that. Is it any wonder Americans don’t trust liberals with matters of national security? North Korea, liberals, missle defense, military, nuclear, politics, news […]
June 21st, 2006 at 4:43 pmDo you prefer the old-fashioned kind of murder,such as the invasion of a nation using lies and distortions?
comment by Steve53
Do you prefer the kind of murder that was going on there before? Seriously. Since when has the left been opposed to the removal of an oppressive, genocidal dictator? I mean, they weren’t back in the Serbia days. None of them said word one when we went into that country without UN approval under Clinton.
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:30 amEEUU Porque no dejan vivir en paz al resto??? la sed de sangre les ahoga
June 23rd, 2006 at 1:31 pmUM…
June 28th, 2006 at 4:20 pmDo any of you remember team Clint-Jong? It was the Clinton Administration that aided the North Korean Government. ” The U.S.-supplied light water reactors will produce plutonium sufficient to arm 65 nuclear warheads each year.” Now I know Bush isn’t perfect…but come on. People are still sticking up for Clinton after all his “mistakes”… Let’s put blame where blame is due!!! Wake up America!
SEA HOLLY
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page?and have to say thanks. nice read?
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:45 amcanada debt national
April 7th, 2008 at 1:02 am