VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) -- The Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile early Thursday.
The Minuteman III dummy warheads were fired at 3:14 a.m. and traveled about 4,200 miles before hitting a water target in the Marshall Islands.
The launch was delayed by a day because of a power outage at a radar facility that handles flights in and out of Southern California. The purpose is to test the defense system's reliability and accuracy.
Earlier this month, North Korea shook up the world by firing several missiles into the Sea of Japan, including a failed long-range missile.
Now that nuclear proliferation is becoming a reality, missile defense is the only defense to nuclear armageddon at the hands of rogue states, terrorists, and madmen.
A missile like this could save your life someday.
Is the system fully functional yet? Of course not. Is it foolproof? No. It's brand new technology, still in the process of development.
But even the limited capability the United States has at this early date must give pause to North Korea and other rogue states. If anyone were to launch a missile with a nuclear warhead at the United States, it could not be certain that the missile would not be intercepted. The first strike opportunity would be lost, and the wrath and military might of the United States would rain down on the perpetrator.
So even the very limited missile defense capability we have now is already serving as an important part of our national defense. We need to advance this program further and develop a fully functional capability
Will it be difficult to perfect a reasonably well functioning missile defense program? Yes.
Will it be next to impossible? Yes.
But the nuclear bomb was also impossible -- before it was invented. So was space travel. And so was open heart surgery.
Here are some fearless predictions:
- There will likely be one or more nuclear missile attacks in the world within the next 75 years. There are too many hate-crazed regimes and terrorist groups in the world right now, and they are not being fought hard enough. Some who enjoy the luxury of living in decent, civilized nations are foolish enough to serve as apologists for such groups, or cling to the naive notion that they can buy peace by appeasing the rogue states and terrorists.
- Missile defense technology will continue to advance and will eventually become a viable, if imperfect, form of defense against nuclear missile attack.
- Some rogue states will eventually develop their own nuclear missile defense programs so that they can launch nuclear missiles without fear of an effective nuclear response (they hope)
- Terrorists and rogue states will try to launch sneak attacks anonymously in an effort to avoid devastating reprisals.
- Missile defenses will not always work perfectly and will frequently fail; nuclear missiles will sometimes reach their targets.
- Nuclear weapons will cause regional environmental damage that is long-lasting but not permanent.
- Detonation of nuclear weapons will cause severe economic damage to nations on the receiving end.
Is this a happy view of the world? Not with respect to nuclear proliferation -- that battle is all but lost. (Exhibit A: North Korea. Exhibit B: Iran.)
Yet in spite of all this, life will go on. Many lucky souls around the world will live out their lives in peace. Terrorists can't be everywhere at once, and fortunately there will always be decent people and decent nations with the courage to fight the terrorists.
So all is not lost. It never will be. But we need to take nuclear missile defense seriously and give it the support and funding it needs to succeed as soon as possible.
To return to where we began, this is the missile that may save your life.
It's no less important than the cop down the street who is there to help if you are the target of a crime. In fact, this missile, and the people who built it and tested it, are more important in the long run than any cop.
So give peace a chance. But while you're at it, give national defense a chance too. They go hand in hand.
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Update 7/23/06: Thanks for the link and kind words from Joe Noory at No Pasaran!, who writes that "The emptiness of the soul and mind of the selectively "pacifist" European left is astonishing." And here's what Noory has to say about former Jesuit priest John McLaughlin, who wants the US to "talk to the bad guys," which would only serve to give Hezbollah unwarranted legitimacy:
What he set aside with his grey suit and white collar was the concept of a universal notion of the responsibility that comes with free will. God's two hands are compassion and justice, and that the continuity in a good society requires both, and not one hand to be tied behind ones’ back when jihad is thirsty for blood.
Good stuff. Read more here.
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