Dear Scumbria:
What would you do if North Korea launched 1 ICBM with a warhead at Boulder, CO? The fact that we could blast them into the stone age (which is not very far for the typical North Korean anyway), would not mitigate the fact that you and your family are still very dead. What would you do if the Russians intent on dismantling one of their ICBMs launched it by accident with a target of Boulder, CO? Even if the warheads do not explode, chances are that it will still spread plutonium all over Boulder and you and your family still grows sick and die. What do you do if, some creep makes a virus that lasts only 24 hours no matter how many hosts are infected and is fatal within an hour, and uses that as the payload, instead of a nuke?
The current deterrent assumes that the other side is rational and not prone to mistakes. It is totally ineffective if the other side is insane or mistake ridden. In fact, if such a mistake were to occur with one of our allies, like the Chinese Embassy Bombing, a simple human error, would you think we would even retaliate? Demand reparations probably, an apology definitely, but, not a nuclear strike at one of their cities. There is much to be said of an option that might be between doing nothing and all out nuclear retaliation.
There might also be spin-offs that could be beneficial like shooting down dropping satellites over safe areas instead of impacts to heavily populated areas. Another spin-off might be an asteroid defense system (Global disasters are such a drag!). A third, would be vastly improved radar systems for air traffic control.
There is much to be said for such a system, if it is reliable and effective.
Pete |
