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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (419969)	6/28/2003 3:27:31 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Respond to of 769669

Good question. In the second case, there may not have been time. The first I'll have to find. I believe that question was asked at the time too and not ever answered by the Chinese gov't. What are a few hundred people when you've got a billion? One of the criticisms in the Intelsat report was the placement of the launch base. I remember the statement that no Western country would allow a launch base to be so close to an inhabited area. Having been in blockhouses during launches, I can tell you the roar and shaking are impressive even when the launch is normal. I'd hate to be around when a booster explodes (although the blockhouses supposedly can withstand that). This is about that Intelsat report: Daniel Lilienstein wrote, the Chinese launch facility fell, "pathetically short of world standards in most areas... This kind of callous disregard for human life is unconscionable and should not be supported by satellite operators." The March 4, 1996 report was written soon after the explosion of a Chinese Long March rocket that carried a satellite built by Loral Space and Communications, that is the subject investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and congressional committees. AP adds, the report points to a willingness by U.S. satellite makers to put up with highly risky rocket operations because of the lower prices offered by China. Following the explosion, which killed at least 100 Chinese villagers, U.S. monitors were barred from the crash site for at least five hours, which lawmakers fear may have allowed China to confiscate sensitive U.S. technology from the wreckage. Lilienstein claims he and other U.S. technicians were prevented from moving for some nine hours. ...................................................... A U.S. Air Force Intelligence Center report states the 4,500 mile-range DF-31 ICBM will "give China major strike capability that will be difficult to counterattack... it will be a major threat throughout the western continental Untied States [along an area that covers between California and Wisconsin]." afpc.org