Think Progress

Our $9 billion/year missile defense system,

made useless by some heavy rain.



32 Responses to “Our $9 billion/year missile defense system,”

  1. JakeSux says:

    No wonder we can’t afford Armored SUV’s..

    Mission Accomplished!


  2. big papa says:

    I want my DAMN money BACK!

    …straight from Bushiva, L’il Dick and their criminal corporate cabal’s…

    …sticky fingers and swollen pockets…

    …We cannot let them get away with this sh*t…

    …Carol Lam was FIRED because she was getting close…

    …support Waxman’s call for the Bushite DOJ to turn over investigatory info…

    …Lam collected on MZM, Jerry Lewis and Dusty Foggo et al…

    …Jam the WH switchboard with calls to order Abu Gonzo to turn over those files!…


  3. VerbalKint says:

    This program is pure fraud. Always has been, always will be.


  4. Jake says:

    The Manhattan Project cost nearly $2 billion ($20 billion in 2004 dollars based on CPI). This is worth the cost as well.


  5. Dale says:

    It was much more than “heavy rain”

    Also from the article:

    “In particular, totally unprecedented rainfall created a rapidly rising ground water condition coincident with steps of construction when the SIVs were susceptible to damage.


  6. Tobey Tall says:

    why not spend that money on the health of your poor nation after all its 35th from bottom, think how many lifes could have been improved or even saved


  7. Trojan John says:

    Well, you have to defend your nation from the people you exploit somehow.


  8. ggibson says:

    The Manhattan Project cost nearly $2 billion ($20 billion in 2004 dollars based on CPI). This is worth the cost as well.

    Comment by Jake

    If it doesnt work then it is NOT worth it. I agree we NEED this system… but we are being milked. The nuclear bomb was a much more difficult scientific effort… this is taking way to long to get done. 9Billion a year… for how many years now?

    We have radars that can pick out small fragments of metal in space … we have missles that are laser guided… there is something not right about this taking so long.

    This is an important tool IF we can get our hands on it. If it works and works very well then ballistic missle based nukes become useless.


  9. Jake says:

    ggibson:

    I’m willing to give it some more time before writing off the last best chance to avoid nuclear holocaust.


  10. Roger_Roger says:

    Wow is this misleading by TP. Only a small percentage were damaged.


  11. tom baker says:

    I’m pretty sure that, if we ship a couple more planeloads of cash to those defense contractors, they’ll get it all straightened out.

    After all, that “star wars” shield has saved us from annihilation what, 13, 14 times already??????

    I can’t believe that any self-respecting wingnut/warhawk/troop supporter would condone that DoD’s insane pissing away of billions to overfed suits while infantrymen in back braces and no body armor get paid like grocery store employees.

    Heckuva job wingnut dumbf*cks!!


  12. . says:

    a related oops:

    US Army attacked European satellite

    “The major Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger reported Saturday, between the 23rd and 24th of January the Eutelsat Hot Bird 8 satellite was disrupted by the US Army using very powerful radio interference signals from the ground to block all transmissions. The Swiss news organisation SDA and also the French AFP that send their news wire to media outlets over the satellite, plus a number of TV and radio stations where dead for 24 hours. They could not supply their news service to newspapers anymore. The aim of the US Army was to stop the Iraqi al-Zawraa TV channel from broadcasting insurgency videos showing attacks against US forces. But it was a mistaken identity and they targeted the wrong satellite. The US Army got the wrong channel and actually hit the similar sounding Iraqi al-Zahra TV channel. The one they wanted to get, al-Zawraa, never stopped broadcasting because it uses the Arabsat satellite. This action shows, the US military has the means to shutdown every satellite they want.”


  13. Dale says:

    #11, do you buy car insurance? Homeowners’ insurance? Life insurance? Life insurance has saved you, what, 13… 14 times already?


  14. And You Thought REAGAN Was Stupid says:

    And yet, Bush and his moronic State Department typically refuse to talk to those countries who are actively building nuclear weapons while he invades a country that constituted NO THREAT to the United States.


  15. tom baker says:

    gee dale, your’e right – lets’ piss all the rest of the money we don’t have down a big black hole. I hope you’re comfortable with making out your mortgage payment check to a Chinese Communist Bank in the not too distant future, ’cause that’s where all the borrowing is going to get us, and a lot sooner than you think.

    “It’s better to let the Chinese Communists own our asses outright, than to fight the muslim radicals here” – is that what I’m hearing??


  16. Rebel in CA says:

    How do you get Congress to appropriate money for torture centers in Romania, Bosnia etc?

    Tell them it is for missile defense


  17. tom baker says:

    We really ought to be spending 20-30 billion annually on missile defense – this is what we deserve for chintzing out and going the “economical” route – you definitely get what you pay for with these systems, and everyone knows the good ones go for a lot more than 9Billion/year…..come on, people!


  18. Lewis says:

    Why spend so much money on building a defense system instead of working on areas that produce terrorists and militants? We could by eliminating world poverty and hunger, reduce the number of those who feel impoverished because of our economic policies and thereby reduce the number of those who are pissed about it. Murder, rape, disease, terrorism and genocide breed out of instability because of lack of basic human needs. Food and clean water. Apparently we, as Americans, have enough money to dump into a fruitless war effort. We have enough money to make a difference and we obviously have enough people who feel strongly about freedom. It is true freedom isn’t free, but it doesn’t have to be purchased with the lives of civilians and young soldiers.


  19. ForTruth says:

    “In particular, totally unprecedented rainfall created…”

    I’m thinking of climate change.


  20. tom baker says:

    I should’ve included a snark flag on post #17….i was still snarking Dale at that point.


  21. mparker says:

    It doesn’t matter that the rain was heavy or not. The system was tested under better conditions then are possible in real life. It failed under those conditions. It was implemented anyway by Bush and as it was implemented and the money was being spent for this mess Russia and china were able to develop and successfully test missiles that can defeat our system even working at 100%.

    It was been obsolete before it existed.


  22. Dr. Matt says:

    Has Jake blamed Clinton yet?


  23. Dr. Matt says:

    Car insurance, homeowners’ insurance, and life insurance are real tangible things that work and are CHEAP,…..unlike this utter waste of tax-payer’s dollars. Why do you reich-wingers love spending American money on useless adventures? You filth really must be anti-American to be so fiscally perverted.


  24. Gerald Gibson Jr says:

    Comment by Lewis

    Terrorism cant destroy humanity. Nukes can.

    Did you read where Putin said the West was behind the school terrorism in Russia? Whether it is true or not doesnt matter… if Russia thinks so and they have enough nukes to kill us all then I would feel better knowing we can shoot them all down.

    So when is oversite of this program going to begin? They have been given enough money already… and it is not like they are inventing all new science… this should be done by now.


  25. Evil Spaniard says:

    #12 a related oops:

    US Army attacked European satellite

    “The major Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger reported Saturday, between the 23rd and 24th of January the Eutelsat Hot Bird 8 satellite was disrupted by the US Army using very powerful radio interference signals from the ground to block all transmissions. The Swiss news organisation SDA and also the French AFP that send their news wire to media outlets over the satellite, plus a number of TV and radio stations where dead for 24 hours. They could not supply their news service to newspapers anymore. The aim of the US Army was to stop the Iraqi al-Zawraa TV channel from broadcasting insurgency videos showing attacks against US forces. But it was a mistaken identity and they targeted the wrong satellite. The US Army got the wrong channel and actually hit the similar sounding Iraqi al-Zahra TV channel. The one they wanted to get, al-Zawraa, never stopped broadcasting because it uses the Arabsat satellite. This action shows, the US military has the means to shutdown every satellite they want.”

    Comment by . — March 27, 2007 @ 12:09 pm

    Making friends all around the globe. I wonder what could have happened if the case was the other way around, Europe attacking an American communications satellite in such way.


  26. Gerald Gibson Jr says:

    Making friends all around the globe. I wonder what could have happened if the case was the other way around, Europe attacking an American communications satellite in such way.

    Comment by Evil Spaniard

    Did the entire country, including the military, get dumber in 2000?


  27. margaret says:

    Evil Spaniard you are so right!! Can you imagine?!

    The crazy people running things now think that Iran detaining 15 British troops is a good enough reason to start dropping nuclear bombs on Iran but we don’t even hear anything on the news when we target someone else’s satellite?!

    Can you imagine if Iran was buzzing our borders right now “flying simulated attack maneuvers” like we’re doing off the coast of Iran? We’re sure good at making friends!

    “Missile defense” seems like a false sense of security and a huge waste of money to me. It sure wouldn’t have helped on 9-11 and it won’t help us now. Sane foreign policy could accomplish far more progress towards a peaceful world.

    I saw a documentary on U.S. veterans of the Iraq war the other night and one vet had a bumber sticker on his wall that read:

    “WE ARE NOT SAFER – OCCUPATION BREEDS HATE”


  28. Namtillaku says:

    Jake said;

    The Manhattan Project cost nearly $2 billion ($20 billion in 2004 dollars based on CPI). This is worth the cost as well.

    Comment by Jake — March 27, 2007 @ 11:27 am

    If you are part of the military industrial complex it is. Doesn’t matter if it works or not, as long as they get their pockets lined with more cash.


  29. Raymond Funamoto says:

    “LISTEN TO THE RHYTHM OF THE FALLING RAIN
    TELLING CHIMPya JUST WHAT A FOOL HE’S BEEN!!!!!
    HE WISHES IT WOULD LET HIM GO AND CRY AGAIN
    AND LET HIM BE ALONE AGAIN!!!!!”

    SHIT-er SHAT-er SHIT-er SHAT-er SHIT-er SHAT-er SHIT-er

    HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!!!! HAH!


  30. ForTruth says:

    I don’t understand why they don’t just have Chuck Norris watch for missles, he could just slap em’ down. That would be cheaper.


  31. tom baker says:

    wow – sure are a lot of steely-eyed warrior-patriots here to defend the horrific waste of money their pals in DC make of our tax $.


  32. David says:

    WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said the United States needs to do more to prevent a “nuclear 9-11,” a threat that he argues has been neglected because the Bush administration has been consumed with Iraq.

    The New Mexico governor said the United States must lead an effort to secure nuclear materials in Russia and dangerous areas of the world so they can’t get into terrorists’ hands. “If al-Qaida obtained nuclear weapons, they would not hesitate to use them with the same ruthlessness that allowed them to fly airplanes filled with people into buildings,” he said in a speech to the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

    “It took a Manhattan project to create the bomb,” Richardson said. “We need a new Manhattan project to stop the bomb—a comprehensive program to secure all nuclear weapons and all weapons-usable material, worldwide.”



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