meta-roj

1st missile interceptor installed in Interior [juneau empire, july 23, 2004]

A 55-foot-long rocket was installed Thursday inside a barren patch of Alaska’s Interior, supplying the first component of a national defense system designed to shoot down enemy missiles.

this goes under “politics” rather than anything useful, because most of the technical material i’ve seen on the bush administration’s missile defense plan says it doesn’t work, which means that it’s more about politics than reality.

the rest of the world seems to take the missile defense project as more of a threat and escalation than a shield.

personally, i question the priorities. since there are only a few countries capable of sending a ballistic missile in our general direction, and we know where they are. to me, it would be stupid to attack the united states that way, because a) the “return address” is obvious and b) the united states has demonstrated willingness to retaliate in overwhelming fashion.

1st missile interceptor installed in Interior [juneau empire, july 23, 2004]

Congress has appropriated more than $10 billion for the missile defense system for the next fiscal year alone and MDA estimates for 2004-2009 run as high as $53 billion. But a group of independent economists estimates the entire system could end up costing as much as $1.2 trillion, [former assistant secretary of operational test and evaluation at the Pentagon, Philip] Coyle said.

that’s a lot of money for something that a) doesn’t work and b) addresses an extremely limited threat. i guess we could be spending that kind of money on protecting “critical infrastructure,” but that would involve moving money from the department of defense to the department of homeland security, i guess. it might actually protect americans from something, but it would really screw up some bureaucrats days, and we wouldn’t want to do that.

there’s another way to look at it…. $1.2 trillion is enough to do 12 iraq wars (at least until the next cost revision….)

Congress Debates $100 Billion Iraq Costs [ap via abc news, july 23, 2004]

At least $100 billion already has been spent or is in the pipeline for the now 16-month-old campaign, according to Defense Department figures.

you can go with the data, or you can go with the politics, but the us is getting a “missile shield” in a few months to save us from bad people with ballistic missiles. only it doesn’t work.

any questions? check the ucs report. then ask some more questions.

after you read this, do you feel safer?

ah, the old days of innocence and naïveté. i guess it always feels safer when you’re ignorant.

according to a usa today article (and several other reports, but i think this is an early one), defense secretary donald rumsfeld thinks the united states has not “yet made truly bold moves” in the war on terrorism.

is there something particularly timid about invading and occupying two countries? maybe that’s just a different war, and i just haven’t kept up.

i hate to read into thinks, but sometimes things reach my attention with just very bad coincidental timing.

[full memo below]
(more…)

according to an associated press report, the united states has resumed tritium production after a 15-year break.

i suppose that makes sense, since the half-life of tritium is something like 12 years, and you think you’re going to need a sizeable thermonuclear arsenal available on short notice.

the us army corps of engineers has found chemical warfare agent in a glass jar after an exhaustive search.

… on the campus of the american university, in northwest washington, dc.