Star Wars, Episode 27, Can't Get It Up

posted by Bill Arnett @ 1:25 PM Permalink

From Raw Story today comes this very interesting article titled 'Bomb Scare' author: 'Star Wars' missile defense 'hasn't worked':

According to Joseph Cirincione, the Senior Vice President for National Security and International Policy for the Center for American Progress and author of the book, Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons, the Bush Administration's plan to station "Star Wars" missile defense systems in Europe is misguided and hasn't worked.…Cirincione said that the missile defense system "has become a huge political, almost ideological issue" for the Bush Administration, which has increased the budget from $3 billion to almost $10 billion a year since coming into office.…"But the technology hasn't worked," Cirincione said. "The threat hasn't materialized as they said it would."…Cirincione said that Russia "was very upset" about US plans to put interceptors in Europe.…Reuters notes that with Democrats in control of Congress and the wars being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, the budget for the controversial program may face future cuts.

This is the famous system dreamed up by the Republic Party icon Ronald Raygun and friends that has been draining billions and billions and billions of dollars from the Treasury (your pocket) for over twenty years and that does not now nor has it ever worked.

Oh, sure, I think they have managed to hit a few incoming missiles that had homing beacons in them, launched from a place of choice so the trajectory was well known, and done during perfect weather so as not to complicate things.

"It's clear that the program is being pushed ahead for political reasons regardless of its capability," says David Wright, co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "This interceptor has never been tested in an intercept test. Yet the Pentagon has already put eight of them in silos and is building at least another dozen before even knowing if they work." [And it is well-known that while it may have hit a few missiles as noted above, there is no way the system could defend against many missiles with multiple warheads. Bill]

Geez, maybe I can sell them my magic beans which, when expelled with great force through a common drinking straw, performs equally as well and on par with this missile defense system for a fraction of the cost. I'd let 'em go for a reasonable price. A one-time sale price of one billion dollars for each magic bean.

But n-o-o-o-o-o-o, every president since Ronnie has continued funding for what is essentially a total bluff: IT DOESN'T WORK! IT. DOES. NOT. WORK.

But what a scam! Brilliant! P*ss off the Russians and Chinese by installing a missile defense system that doesn't work just for fun and profit and the illusion of safety. Outstanding!

By the time a country facing multiple missiles with multiple warheads finds out it doesn't work there will be no one left to complain and ask for a refund!

Brilliant!

Labels: Star Wars