Still Playing Games With National Security: An Attempt To Gut A Vital Project
We have all heard the statements from the Democrats of what their plans are when they finally get power in January. Nancy Pelosi has a laundry of "things to do" in her first 100 hours as the news Speaker of the House. But absent fro any of those lists are the weapons and systems we use in the war on terror, and to protect this nation. Taylor Dinerman, writing for Pajamas Media has a story that should make people sit up and take notice, and I urge everyone to venture over there and read the whole thing. It's well worth it:
Democratic leaders are poised to gut America’s missile defense - at the same time North Korea and Iran are testing long-range missiles that can strike the U.S. and its allies, including Israel, Japan and Britain.
Meanwhile, sources inside the missile-defense community tell Pajamas Media that the Bush administration is planning to ask Congress to begin funding development of an “orbital battle station.”
With these key developments, 2007 is set to be the biggest battle of space-based weapons since President Reagan proposed “Star Wars” in 1983.
The incoming chairman of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee is Carl Levin. Levin, a Michigan Democrat, has long been a foe of missile defense. In 1980s, he worried that President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative — which aimed to develop technology to destroy Soviet missiles during all phases of flight — was “destabilizing.”
Today Sen. Levin sings the same tune in a different key. “They’ve not done the operational testing yet that is convincing,” said Senator Levin during a post-election press conference. He was referring to the Ground based Missile Defense [GMD] system being installed in Alaska and California, to defend against North Korean missiles. He added that he favors stalling purchases of interceptor missiles - vital for missile defense — until after testing is complete.
In short, Sen. Levin and other longtime opponents of missile defense plan to use “testing” - set to an unrealistically high level - to stop missile defense.
The missile defense system that we have been testing has performed excellently. I believe there is one test--one of the first--that the missile failed to hit its target. More tests are slated at the beginning of the new year involving multiple targets for the defense system to track and destroy. But we are going back to the 1980s with their excuses that this isn't a feasible system, and it's too expensive.
In an age where our enemies are testing long range missiles, and working their way towards nucelar weapons, the missile defense system is integral to the security of the nation. We had to work on a program like this, and thus far it is serving as an effective deterrent. this is the same system we've proposed to Japan to protect it against North Korean and Chinese missiles; a prospect that has both nations worried. Japan is, after all, still considering a change in their constitution to remilitarize. This could be the first step in that direction--focusing Japan's resources on defense for now while they work on the offensive side of their own national security.
The orbital platform that is being proposed sounds good. I have yet to see anything other than an artists rendition of it (available in the story from PJM), but it is a sound theory. The ability to knock a missile out before it hits its booster thrust; the stage right before it hits the atmosphere. In essence, and in basic terms, we'd basically be taking it out right after it lifts off. I'm sure sci-fi authors around the world will look at this--if approved and completed--and nod their heads. Hey guys, they called it first, in a whole host of novels.
But we should have known that the Democrats weren't going to be open about everything they intended to do. We knew that Charlie Rangel wanted to go back over the tax cuts. We knew that Nancy Pelosi wants to push their idea of health care reform (rewad: Hillary-care redux), and a minimum wage increase. We knew that John Conyers wants to investigate some aspects of the Bush Administration, especially pre-war intelligence, and the NSA TSP. And, of course, they all want to implement "all of the recommendations" of the 11 September Commission. (Though yesterday they stated that some aspects would be left unaddressed, such as a new reform over certain committees in Congress.) But this takes the cake. The system isn't even fully deployed yet, and it's still being tested, and these poor slobs want to gut the thing.
It has to make people wonder if the Democrats understand the term "national security" at all.
Publius II
We have all heard the statements from the Democrats of what their plans are when they finally get power in January. Nancy Pelosi has a laundry of "things to do" in her first 100 hours as the news Speaker of the House. But absent fro any of those lists are the weapons and systems we use in the war on terror, and to protect this nation. Taylor Dinerman, writing for Pajamas Media has a story that should make people sit up and take notice, and I urge everyone to venture over there and read the whole thing. It's well worth it:
Democratic leaders are poised to gut America’s missile defense - at the same time North Korea and Iran are testing long-range missiles that can strike the U.S. and its allies, including Israel, Japan and Britain.
Meanwhile, sources inside the missile-defense community tell Pajamas Media that the Bush administration is planning to ask Congress to begin funding development of an “orbital battle station.”
With these key developments, 2007 is set to be the biggest battle of space-based weapons since President Reagan proposed “Star Wars” in 1983.
The incoming chairman of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee is Carl Levin. Levin, a Michigan Democrat, has long been a foe of missile defense. In 1980s, he worried that President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative — which aimed to develop technology to destroy Soviet missiles during all phases of flight — was “destabilizing.”
Today Sen. Levin sings the same tune in a different key. “They’ve not done the operational testing yet that is convincing,” said Senator Levin during a post-election press conference. He was referring to the Ground based Missile Defense [GMD] system being installed in Alaska and California, to defend against North Korean missiles. He added that he favors stalling purchases of interceptor missiles - vital for missile defense — until after testing is complete.
In short, Sen. Levin and other longtime opponents of missile defense plan to use “testing” - set to an unrealistically high level - to stop missile defense.
The missile defense system that we have been testing has performed excellently. I believe there is one test--one of the first--that the missile failed to hit its target. More tests are slated at the beginning of the new year involving multiple targets for the defense system to track and destroy. But we are going back to the 1980s with their excuses that this isn't a feasible system, and it's too expensive.
In an age where our enemies are testing long range missiles, and working their way towards nucelar weapons, the missile defense system is integral to the security of the nation. We had to work on a program like this, and thus far it is serving as an effective deterrent. this is the same system we've proposed to Japan to protect it against North Korean and Chinese missiles; a prospect that has both nations worried. Japan is, after all, still considering a change in their constitution to remilitarize. This could be the first step in that direction--focusing Japan's resources on defense for now while they work on the offensive side of their own national security.
The orbital platform that is being proposed sounds good. I have yet to see anything other than an artists rendition of it (available in the story from PJM), but it is a sound theory. The ability to knock a missile out before it hits its booster thrust; the stage right before it hits the atmosphere. In essence, and in basic terms, we'd basically be taking it out right after it lifts off. I'm sure sci-fi authors around the world will look at this--if approved and completed--and nod their heads. Hey guys, they called it first, in a whole host of novels.
But we should have known that the Democrats weren't going to be open about everything they intended to do. We knew that Charlie Rangel wanted to go back over the tax cuts. We knew that Nancy Pelosi wants to push their idea of health care reform (rewad: Hillary-care redux), and a minimum wage increase. We knew that John Conyers wants to investigate some aspects of the Bush Administration, especially pre-war intelligence, and the NSA TSP. And, of course, they all want to implement "all of the recommendations" of the 11 September Commission. (Though yesterday they stated that some aspects would be left unaddressed, such as a new reform over certain committees in Congress.) But this takes the cake. The system isn't even fully deployed yet, and it's still being tested, and these poor slobs want to gut the thing.
It has to make people wonder if the Democrats understand the term "national security" at all.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 2:47 PM
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