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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (4850)	9/1/2006 12:34:22 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224722

You really need to diversify you're reading material or watch Cspan. Today Trotsky was quoted as saying: "You might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." The guest stated that's exactly the reality forced upon Americans on Sept 11, 2001. Some citizens like you continue in the naive misbelief there is really a choice when it comes to the war on terrorism. The Islamic Fascists have declared war on us and we can fight over there, or as they would prefer, here at home. That's really our only choice at this point in time.

To: American Spirit who wrote (4850)	9/1/2006 8:47:33 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224722

Bush Adm success--A good Offense is the Best Defense--US Missile Defense System Intercepts Target Sep 1, 2006 By ROBERT JABLON LOS ANGELES (AP) - An interceptor missile destroyed a mock warhead over the Pacific Ocean on Friday in a key test of the nation's missile defense system, officials said. It was the most realistic test of the systems that would be used against an attack, said Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner. The 54-foot interceptor shot out of an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast at 10:39 a.m., 17 minutes after the mock warhead was launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, Lehner said. The interceptor carried a refrigerator-sized "kill vehicle" that locked on to the approaching mock enemy missile and flew into the 4-foot-long warhead at 18,000 mph. Lehner said both disintegrated more than 100 miles above the Earth and a few hundred miles west of Vandenberg. The interceptor's flight lasted 13 minutes. The test was designed to see whether the "kill vehicle" could get close to the warhead to test the tracking and sensor systems which would be used in an actual missile attack. "It gave us a good chance to measure overall system performance. It was the most operationally realistic test we've had," Lehner said. The interceptor was launched by remote control from a command center in Colorado. The test also was the first use of an early warning radar at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., to provide the data required to put the interceptor on a proper path toward its target. Data from the test will take several weeks to review, Lehner said. The $85 million launch was postponed from Thursday after fog socked in Kodiak Island. There was also fog over Vandenberg Friday morning but it burned off. More than $100 billion has been spent on America's missile-defense system since 1983 and it has been the subject of criticism by those who call it a costly boondoggle. There also have been allegations that early tests were rigged or their success exaggerated. The Pentagon says the technology used in those tests is not part of the current research program. Critics also argued early on that the demise of the Soviet Union made a full-scale missile attack on the U.S. unlikely. Supporters say the U.S. still is vulnerable to missiles from rogue states. In July, North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a missile that was believed capable of reaching the northwestern U.S. coast. On Monday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited Fort Greely in Alaska, where 11 interceptors are kept. Asked whether the missile shield was ready for use against a North Korean missile, Rumsfeld said he would not be fully convinced without more realistic testing. "A full end-to-end" demonstration is needed "where we actually put all the pieces" of the highly complex and far-flung system together, he said. There have been nine intercept tests since 1999, and five were successful in hitting the target, Lehner said. An actual intercept test was scheduled for the end of this year or in early 2007, he said.