Anyone who has been following the news this week has heard of the Administration-backed plan to shoot down their own spy satellite with a Navy missle. Their story is so riddled with holes it could fit an ICBM itself. I can't remember the last time I saw the press so thoughtlessly buy the official White House line...actually, scratch that. It was 2003.
The foreign press (and even some astute American journalists) have raised some serious qualms with the story of a "dangerous" satellite. When the facts come to light, it seems less likely that this launch is about protecting the world than it is about flexing some massive military muscle. For starters, let's right some major media wrongs and put this event in context. Here's a little piece from Bush's 2000 campaign:
Which begs the question: planned by who? The answer, of course, is Reagan. The Star Wars program (as it's called) has a long history with the Paranoid Right, and no president has taken it as seriously as Bush II. Over the past 8 years, his administration has sent billions to defense contractors to make Reagan's fantasy real. Following a 2006 missle test by North Korea, the Pentagon declared that the perpetually-in-development Star Wars program was finally operational, despite the fact that it had a less than 50% success rate and amidst reports that the anti-missle missles were filled with faulty parts. Luckily, the Administration apparently didn't have enough faith in the missle shield to start bombing North Korea, so little became of it (except the $10 billion still being spent on the program).
Also relevant to tonight's satellite skeet shoot is a 2006 missile test in which China did exactly the same thing. China was more brazen when it was their turn; they simply shot down their own satellite, then denied it for a few days, then fessed up. Their intent was fairly obvious: the US learned, as did the rest of the world, that their satellites were fair game in a conflict with China. A space conflict, no less.
All of which leads us to today. As I write this, Navy warships are moving into position to shoot down an ostensibly dangerous spy satellite. Their rationale - that chemicals used in rocket fuel could be harmful to Earthling populations if encountered - is absurd. Not only do satellites fall to Earth all the time, but in the last 30 years, three satellites have fallen to Earth carrying small nuclear reactors. You would think that if this rocket fuel is dangerous enough to warrant such dire action (and its very own FEMA handbook), a nuclear reactor would at least get a pamphlet. Apparently, you would be wrong.
Which brings us to the real reason for tonight's missile launch: it's a weapons test, pure and simple. With this launch, we're re-entering the arms race, with renewed effort to conquer space and with heavy (some might say terrifying) nuclear implications. The fact that the US media has failed to highlight the international implications of our actions is appalling; foreign heads of state have been adamant in their condemnation of this test, but in America their criticisms have fallen on mostly deaf ears.
It gets worse. An arms race, once started, is never easily stopped. The Cold War saw arms spending increase under supposedly-peace-loving Democratic presidents. If our next president is a Democrat in the mold of John F. Kennedy, we won't have to go digging in the desert for WMDs. We'll be building them in New Mexico.
Luckily, none of the candidates remind us of Kennedy. Right?
