I usually like to point out that it is the government that causes other countries to hate the U.S, but I love this story because it shows that even if other nations/terrorist groups really wanted to try strike, the government sure as hell wouldn’t be the one defending us. Here’s the Reuters report:
A U.S. attempt to shoot down a ballistic missile mimicking an attack from Iran failed after a malfunction in a radar built by Raytheon Co, the Defense Department said.
The abortive test over the Pacific Ocean coincided with a Pentagon report that Iran had expanded its ballistic missile capabilities and posed a “significant” threat to U.S. and allied forces in the Middle East region.
I don’t think Jack Liberty is completely right on his “let’s get rid of the military” view, but I do agree with him that the U.S. government presence in the region is causing a lot of problems.
What do you think?
I see US involvement on the Saudi Peninsula as the exact same mistake made in the Black Hills of South Dakota in the 1800’s.
Cursor_
I guess thats the fate of an arms race, its a cat and mouse deal, and the results have the potential to wipe us all out
Would not surprise me that a attack of Iran is near. I think the US has quietly implemented these defense measures in preparation for Israel to strike. Possibly with logistics from the US.
Weren’t there a few Raytheon electronics division designers killed on the 9/11 planes?
Iran has the mobile Russian SA-300 anti-missile & aircraft system, which beat the crap out of our Patriot ABM systems. Not sure Russia is selling the new SA-400 system to the public yet. If they use Sunburn Missiles, so far, we have no conventional means to stop them (mach 3+ sea skimmer) with at best, a 30sec warning after launch. Also, Russia has EM systems that can shut down anything flying with electronics out to about 150km-200km, iirc.
The question is, will we deploy covert space based assets (which both USA and Russia have) -or let our forces be toasted because to this day, we still deny we have made any headway in anti-grav & electro-gravitic technology, or have functional craft…
-s
Wait Cherman, you mean that before the US have forces in the region they loved us and there weren’t any problems?!? Have you read any history books?
@#3 Find and listen to Ahmad’s recent speech announcing that Iran will do something spectacular in the region on February 11, 2010… Than rethink who will be likely to start new war – cornered megalomaniac or his opponent who already have military stretched to the breaking point?
As for story itself, we are spoiled by sci-fi and technological expectations that everything can and will work perfectly. That is not the real world. In real world cutting edge tech’ fails sometimes. More complex – more frequently. Missile shield works by reducing, not eliminating number of missiles that will hit us. There will always be breakdowns, misfires, outright misses, software and hardware fails… We are not behind Star Trek shield…
First lefties at Dvorak.org complain about missile defense, that it shouldn’t be funded. Then they complain about the government not being able to defend against a missile attack…
All this crap is the result of Imperialism and Colonialism starting over a century ago. The current state is such a bastardized mess that no one can get a handle on, like walking a minefield in the dark covered in razor wire. We have to keep the Saudis and the Israelis somewhat happy. Most the Islamic countries will collapse internally to radical extremist. This fuse started burning in 1949 with the partitioning of Palestine, and it’s damn near the powder now.
-ps..
If you have you studied ALL of history (ancient included) -as written by outsiders, -and not “the victors”… then you know that the history and future of this country (if not the entire planet) is/was planned & scripted eons ago and is a repeating cycle. ie: “All this happened before and will happen again.”
(people who have studied the bible codes in depth, would probably understand this from a different angle)
ANYWAY….
-want to read an article from 2004 that paints a scenario in the Gulf that is oh-so eerily similar to what is going today? The Sunburn – Iran’s Awesome Nuclear Anti-Ship Missile: The Weapon That Could Defeat The US In The Gulf By Mark Gaffney – 11-2-4
-most intriguing
-s
This relates with :
Large U.S. & allies Pacific war games
Arms sales to Taiwan – China may boycott Boeing
I think you are a fool to even consider and post the opinion of 15 year old skull-full-of-mush “Jack” as noteworthy, that you agree with the punk is even more telling of your immature and underdeveloped comprehension of geopolitical realities. You probably blame the cops for crime and food for fat.
Children like the two of you should not even be seen, let alone heard. Go away and grow up, don’t presume to “teach” the world ANYTHING until you’ve created and destroyed a life. Not even then are you guaranteed to be worth listening to, but at least you will have experienced real life, not just played computer blog games.
Haven’t there been a number of other successful tests? One failure doesn’t mean the whole system sucks. It was a test, after all.
Why would Obama feel the need to make the information about a “failed” intercept test public instead of keeping it Top Secret?
Wouldn’t the knowledge of this failure make Iran more likely to attack sooner than later?
Does anyone in the Obama administration have a clue about what they are doing?
So many questions – so little time.
Isn’t the administration preparing the new budget right now. And congress will soon begin working on putting their fingerprints all over it.
So when I see this: “.. a Pentagon report that Iran had expanded its ballistic missile capabilities and posed a “significant” threat to U.S. and allied forces in the Middle East region.”
I think someone is trying to push a big increase in theater missile defense outlays.
Cherman – You’re playing with (mostly) adults here. Yet you post the rantings of a child’s blog?
I am thoroughly disappointed in you. And my expectations were not high.
Plan C, the original plan, get a nuclear missile close to the incoming missile and detonate.
Get with it, the test wasn’t a failure, it was an “incomplete success”; when have we ever had failure in weapons system tests? If the Osprey is good, anything is good.
So now to reality. High school physics written on the back of an envelope prove it is virtually impossible to shoot down an incoming ICBM traveling 3 miles per second. It’s a good thing most Americans are uneducated or many weapons systems wouldn’t be built.
>> MikeN said, on February 1st, 2010 at 3:18 pm
>> First lefties at Dvorak.org complain about missile defense, that it shouldn’t be funded. Then they complain about the government not being able to defend against a missile attack…
After the fall of the USSE, we “lefties” already knew that our biggest threat would from asymmetrical attacks, but you conservatives demanded we pour BILLIONS AND BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of our tax dollars into Cold War weaponry.
Can you conservatives at least show us _some_ benefit to national security from what you so adamantly demanded?
I mean, “defense” is your bragging point… show us where our billions went.
#11 Good point… why is DU quoting a 15 year old blogger? Can’t you get anyone more serious?
Anti-missile defenses are simply a boondoggle, a way for big military contractors to separate us from our tax dollars.
Any terrorist who wanted to blow up a bomb in the U.S. wouldn’t need a friggin’ missile, they’d just sail a ship with a nuke in it right up to Manhattan.
And looky here, more saber rattling by moronic wingnuts on Iran. The same wingnuts who were lauding the Iranians for protesting against their government, now want to bomb those Iranians, thus instantly forcing them to support their oppressive government against the American aggressors. Way to go, wingnuts. Could anyone be more stupid???
Sure, pull out and go home. What harm could it do if Iran took over the middle eastern oil?
Other than making most of us into pedestrians that is.
The way I hear it after Iran’s missles soften us up they are sending their ground troops in rubber Zodiacs to overwhelm us from the beaches and up over the hills.
Plus that they have already teamed up with rogue elements from Haiti not to mention Blackwater (Xe) ex-US-Marines who are getting paid double what the US pays.
Okay, stand up anyone who really believes Iran is going to attack us. Really. Thought so.
#21 Sure, pull out and go home. What harm could it do if Iran took over the middle eastern oil?
Thanks for a prime example of black-and-white wingnut thinking. In wingnut world, we have just two choices:
1. Bomb the shit out of any country that displeases us.
2. Go home and cower under our beds waiting for someone to attack us.
Dude, it’s their oil. If we want them to sell us their oil, we have to make nice with them. What kind of moron doesn’t understand that?
#23 right on.
“I do agree with him that the U.S. government presence in the region is causing a lot of problems.” Really? SHOCKING. 10 years after 9/11 and you are just now coming to this conclusion???
#23-Phydeau-it’s their oil. If we want them to sell us their oil, we have to make nice with them.
Sounds like this problem can be easily solved by drilling for our own oil. Maybe even build a few refineries and nuclear plants.
You can’t complain about a middle east presence when at the same time you whine about drilling in Alaska or the Gulf of Mexico or your backyard.
“but I do agree with him that the U.S. government presence in the region is causing a lot of problems.”
Ya’ think?
#25 Sounds like this problem can be easily solved by drilling for our own oil. Maybe even build a few refineries and nuclear plants.
I am all in favor of reducing our energy dependence on middle east oil states. I personally don’t think nukes are the answer, and our own oil reserves aren’t enough. And I don’t think the American people want oil wells in everyone’s back yard.
The most obvious answer is consuming less oil, but we’ve gotten fat’n’lazy in America and I don’t know if people are willing to change their lifestyles.
Most people don’t give a sh*t about anything except the next episodes of American Idol and Lost. Getting them to wake up and smell the coffee will be a challenge. 🙁
#27-Phydeau-The most obvious answer is consuming less oil…
A good starting point is to get Nancy Pelosi and the rest of congress under control. It’s hard to persuade others to conserve when extreme examples of abuse are coming from members of Congress.
How does it happen that Nancy Pelosi rates a private plane for personal and family use at taxpayer expense?
I won’t even go into the millions of taxpayers dollars spent on their little vacation to Copenhagen.
Let’s go to defcon 1! They’re about to nuke us! Be afraid be very afraid!
Doesn’t this feel just a little like fear-mongering? Wake up you zombies!
silly Hoomans
-we don’t want their oil.
The main reason why iran is being painted as a boogieman is twofold:
-They don’t have a private central bank controlling them -like we do. (TheFED)
-The rockefeller, rothchild bankster cabal hates this fact.
-They have started their own (online) Oil Borse that trades Oil in anything BUT $USD Petrodollars.
(remember when the transl-antic cables were cut? -twice, right they were to go live?)
(BTW Sadam/Iraq also had no prvt central bank -and started excepting oil trades in currencies other than USD’s.. -and we know what happened to him.
The BigOil boys..*and* the Banksters do not want oil traded in *anything* but USD’s until they kill the dollar (and America) themselves.
Iran is far too independent a state for the tastes of the prvt bankers who run and own the western civilization.
The nuke story is just a tired old meme that we always fall for. -just like when advertisrs attach the word free” to anything. -we will rush to buy it, -even if we have no need whatsoever for it
Ever wonder why we are so “scared” of Iran, when Israel a far more fanatical state -has over 200 nuclear bombs (many we suplied) +new nuke tipped bunker busters..and yet the U.N.happily lets them deny they have any such weapons?
THINK.
-s
Turn off your TV