Scumbria Re..With all of the immediate threats to America, why is the President Bush focused on building a missile shield that doesn't work for an enemy that doesn't exist? <<<<<<<<<<<
I would like to mention that I haven't expressed any opinion on the missile shield. I am torn between the pros and cons. I would say that the governments primary duty is to defend this country, not feed the poor, buy drugs for the elderly , or educate the children. Now before I receive hate mail, I am in favor of all of those things, but the primary duty of the federal gov., is to protect the US. When you consider that a 100 megaton bomb, exploded 5 miles above Texas would destroy Texas and the five surrounding states, one would think that if the missile shield could only stop one bomb, it would easily be worth it. There are bombs in existence which are 100 times the power of the Hiroshima bombs, and we should not underestimate the amount of destruction such a bomb would inflict. That said, I believe it is premature to deploy a shield at this time for several reasons.
1. There isn't currently a rogue nation out there which posses such a threat, and I believe we have time to develop a working system before a large threat develops. That is not to say a threat won't develop, as a threat developing probably will be inevitable; but I don't see the need to rush into it at this point; based on my limited amount of knowledge.
2. I would consider it far more probable that a nuclear terrorist strike with a small theater style nuclear weapon would be far more likely. A small nuclear bomb in a car parked blocks away from the capital, could easily take out Washington DC. and it wouldn't be that easy to retaliate, if you don't know who the bomber is. If you look at a mirv warhead, they appear to be app. 4 ft in length and about 1 ft in diameter. One warhead could easily destroy chicago. How do we stop such a bombing. I don't think we can. Certainly a missile shield would be useless.
The only way to even begin to manage this new world is by focusing on precisely the area of foreign policy that the Bush team has the most contempt for: nation-building — helping others restructure their economies and put in place decent, non-corrupt government.<<<<<<
Here I have to disagree with you. Many of our attempts to interfere have gone awry. The shah of Iran and Papa Doc should be two shining examples. Most nations resent the interference and I would agree with GW in that we should MYOB. We had our own civil war. At any rate, I don't think that our armed forces should be involved in nation building. Leave that to others more qualified. The idea that were are there to help would better served if the people doing the helping weren't carrying heavy weapons; plus they wouldn't be such a prime target; as the troops in Lebanon, and Somalia were. |
