This is only politically related to Bush’s earlier activation of SDI. The Patriot system (unless woefully underreported for intelligence reasons) doesn’t have the range to shoot down the N. Korean missile test, even in boost phase. This system is best suited for theater missile defense, and is intended to defend Japan against intermediate-range missiles fired directly at them.
A Pentagon official said Tuesday the deployment of Patriot interceptor missiles in Japan is not related to North Korea’s apparent preparations to fire a long-range missile.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters the pending deployment of Patriot PAC-3 and SM-3 missiles was announced May 1 at the Security Consultative Committee. The deployment announcement was initially made in October 2005, according to Whitman.
The PAC-3 and SM-3 interceptors, designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, will be deployed at existing U.S. bases. The FBX-T radar they rely on for intercept data will be based at Japan’s Shariki Air Self-Defense Force Base, the only non-U.S. site in the plan.
Japan is also deploying its own PAC-3 capabilities.
“This has been a part of ongoing bilateral discussions and commitments with the government of Japan, not as a result of recent activities that we’ve been watching,” Whitman said.
This is one of the few instances where I agree with the military spokesperson describing the situation. They may be taking advantage of the fear of the current test to deploy a new weapons system in pacifist Japan, but they aren’t going to use these missiles against the upcoming test.
Problems with stuff like this, is AIMING over land.
IF it misses, WHERE will it come down.
Ever wonder WHY you are not supposed to Shoot guns within 1-3 miles of a city…Even if you ARE hunting. Miss that Duck, goose, Pheasant, Qual, Deer, and that Bullet can travel ALONG way.
Nice of Dear Leader to give us Americans so much time to figure out exactly how we should respond…
I wonder what our reaction would have been if they had just tested a missile with only a few hours notice…, a days notice??
Interesting thread on the World Affairs board re: Could those two Aegis cruisers shoot-down North Korea’s missile?
http://tinyurl.com/elgeg
I like the picture of North Korea at night = DARK…
But I am scared by the “arm-chair warriors”:
My wife is an attorney who specializes in International Law. We had several of her lawyer buddies over last night for dinner and drinks, and this topic came up. Legally, the US can blow it right off the launch pad if the US chooses to do so, because it is a legitimate military target. With over 44,000 cease fire violations since 1954, the US could do it if the US is willing to take the political fallout.
I had forgotten that legally a state of war still exists between the US and North Korea, and has since 1954.
Man! A bunch of drunk lawyers talking $hit…
“…the US could do it if the US is willing to take the political fallout.”
Political fallout…?!?
Anyone spouting that kind of crap should be forced to spend the two weeks following our attack on Dear Leader’s launch-pad with either our troops at the Korean DMZ, or our troops on Okinawa…
I would love to see how the “arm-chair” crowd like waiting for the “political” fallout along-side the Americans whose asses are really on the line in all of this…
The Patriot missile is a perfect symbol for the Bush presidency, since it can’t do what is promised.
The patriot misiles shot down, at most, the already disintegrating warhead of ONE Iraqi scud missile during Gulf War I. After a GAO report showed them to be ineffective, we continue to pay for a failed weapons system.
Pacifist Japan? This is a very dubious statement…
Japan is one of the largest buyers of military hardware in the world. The fact that its armed forces are are called ‘Self-Defence’ does not make them pacifists.
Also remember that the current PM has visited the tombs of WWII war ‘Heroes’ several times, which does not lead you to think that the current leadership is pacifist.
Then again, the actual population might be pacifist, but the same is true in most countries.
Not in America.
America as a continent is pretty large to be saying that, do you mean the US? That country between Canada and Mexico?
I was being as sweeping as you were earlier. I think the US citizenry as a whole (with a possible skew by “red” or “blue” state) is peace-loving. (I wouldn’t call people who pack stadiums full of fake violence and pain exactly pacifistic.)
Japan is a pacifist country, and has several caveats in their constitutionto help them stay that way. They buy a lot of our hardware, true. But it is all defensive. They buy fighters, not bombers. That’s one reason this purchase is significant.
So by your own admission Japan only has dual-purpose weaponry at best? What point are you trying to make? That this missile deal is no big thing?
The missile deal is a big thing.
My point is that being one of the largest weapons buyers in the world hardly seems pacifist.
Dual-purpose weaponry at best? The destructive capacity of the fighters they have cannot be taken lightly. Even C-130 CARGO plane can deliver a fuel air bomb the size of a VW beatle that can do tremendous destruction.
What always matters is the people controlling the weapons.
Don’t you agree?
Of course, but let’s not create demons where none exist. One must first have a fuel-air bomb to drop out of said C-130.
(Not to mention you need air supremacy to use such a lumbering barge as a delivery system. Japan wouldn’t have that over the China Sea without lots and lots of help.)
Something I pointed out LONG about about Iran.
Im not worried they have Nuke materials. I would wonder the streets showing EVERYONE what the stuff does, and that it took us/USA 30 years to figure it out.
I worry about them getting an ICBM. But getting ICBM’s(intercontinental balistic missles) is NOT easy, as you cant test them in your back yard.
Transporting Quality Nuke materials, is VERY hard from country to country.
Samurai and Bushido do not readily lend their connotations to the word “pacifist”. The Japanese people lost WW2 not through lack of valor or fighting spirit but because they were over whelmed by American industrial might. Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not end all out global conflict, and Japan will be a formidable opponent in the next round.
You don’t know much about Japan, do you?
There are more then 1 way to take over a country.
BUY IT.
Make it dependant on you.
OUT think it. Make a better mouse trap, and SELL it back to them at 10 times the price.
Out purchase Imports, and strip the nation of important goods, by forceing us to USE upo back stocks.
Over populate, and ship your children to the US, to make there own groups and slowly bring JAPNA into the US.
SAME, but send all your crooks and theives to the US…