Free Republic

Four years ago I predicted that Beijing would grind its teeth if Bush won. Well, it did more than that: it threw a "right tantrum" as my old English teacher used to say. (He was full of delightful and colourful sayings). Even as I wrote party hacks busily churned out anti-American and anti-NMD propaganda. The party line was the predictable one of arguing that the proposed missile defence system is hostile in intent and is meant to target Russia and China. (Democrats, Kerry among them, basically push the same line). But by the same logic, the Nazi's would have been...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A laser beam under joint Israeli-U.S. development destroyed a long-range rocket for the first time in a test in the skies over the American Southwest, Israel's Defense Ministry said on Friday. Israel has sought an effective defense against ballistic missiles since 1991 when Iraq launched Scuds into the Jewish state during the first Gulf War. It has since developed the Arrow anti-ballistic missile with U.S. funding. "This is a significant step forward," a ministry spokesman said of the test on May 4 of the "Nautilus" Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) held at the White Sands Missile...

Shooting Stars U.S. Military Takes First Step Towards Weapons in Space By Marc Lallanilla ABCNEWS.com Mar. 30— For all of human history, people have looked at the stars with a sense of wonder. More recently, some U.S. military planners have looked skyward and seen something very different — the next battlefield. While the military's presence in space stretches back decades, now there appears to be a new emphasis. Officials in the Bush administration and the Department of Defense are actively pursuing an agenda calling for the unprecedented weaponization of space. The first real step in that direction appears to be...

MOSCOW – Russia has successfully tested a hypersonic weapon capable of penetrating any prospective missile shield, a senior general said Thursday. The prototype weapon proved it could maneuver so quickly as to make "any missile defense useless," Col.-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, said at a news conference.

Col. Charles A. Anderson During Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), America once again placed its trust and confidence in Patriot soldiers, as it had during Operation Desert Storm, to protect the force from ballistic missile attack. At the end of OIF, however, there was no acrimonious debate as there was at the end of Operation Desert Storm about Patriot's performance. In the maelstrom of combat, Patriot answered any question about its lethality against tactical ballistic missiles. Out ahead or keeping pace with the Patriot units on the contested highways leading toward Baghdad, air defense artillery (ADA) Avengers, Bradley Linebackers and forward...

<p>It's been 18 months since the U.S. withdrew from the ABM Treaty and the future of missile defense is now beginning to emerge.</p> <p>Last week the Pentagon awarded Northrop Grumman and Raytheon a contract to develop and build a high-speed rocket capable of intercepting and destroying an enemy missile within five minutes of launch. The aim of the new interceptor is to shoot down an enemy missile while it is still on its upward trajectory, an objective that fits into the Bush Administration's plan for a "layered" defense, with multiple opportunities to take shots at an incoming missile.</p>

The arrow missile system provide a good line of defense against Iran's Shihab-3 missile," the heads of the Arrow system Aryeh Herzog said Tuesday. After years of development, Iran announced Monday that the Shihab-3 ballistic missile, capable of reaching Israel with a 1,300 km range, has undergone its "final testing" and is now operational. Defense officials warned that the Shihab missile has the ability to carry a nuclear warhead and that Iran will most probably achieve nuclear capability within two years. Herzog also said that Israel needs to watch over Syrian surface-to-surface missiles, which can reach Israeli targets.

Gerard Jackson BrookesNews.Com Thursday 5 June 2003 Sixty-five years ago Joseph Goebbels hatched a devilish scheme to destroy Britain’s radar defences without firing a shot. Goebbels had been given details of how British radar installations were proceeding at a rapid pace. Aware of what this could mean for the Luftwaffe in the event of war, Goebbels immediately called a conference of his closest colleagues. The object: sabotage Britain's radar installations without a declaration of war or any warlike act of any kind. Goebbels was almost beside himself with worry, especially knowing how fickle the Fuhrer could be at times. What...

Let’s face it: Perfect safety doesn’t exist. No matter what we do, there will always be those who want to kill us because they hate our freedoms, because they hate freedom, or just because they hate Americans. That’s why we need a missile-defense system -- today more than ever. The Bush administration knows this. It recently issued “National Security Policy Directive 23,” which makes missile defense the law of the land. In it, the president ordered the Pentagon to deploy long-range missile interceptors in Alaska and California by September of next year. My colleagues and I at The Heritage Foundation...

...Not everyone is enamored of the anti-missile project, though. Some worry that the recent surge of construction will lead to another boom-bust cycle. Also unnerving for some is the idea of having powerful rockets stationed so close. "It was different having the old base here than having an anti-missile site," said Wanda Stewart, owner of Granite View sports and gifts shop. "The old base didn't kill." The only open opposition has come in the form of a couple of small demonstrations organized by an anti-nuclear group called No Nukes North, headquartered in Fairbanks about 90 miles to the north....

Forrester Statement On New Jersey Supreme Court Decision (TRENTON, OCTOBER 2) – U.S. Senate candidate Doug Forrester tonight issued the following statement: “Today, the people of New Jersey lost. The Torricelli-Lautenberg machine’s disregard for the rule of law, fair elections and the people of New Jersey will, once again, make our great state the butt of national jokes. “The good people of New Jersey understand what has transpired over the past few days. A few powerbrokers read public opinion polls and concluded that I was going to beat Bob Torricelli, and decided to change the rules of the game. The...

Asserting that there was great potential for Indo-US defence cooperation, prominent strategic affairs experts said the US Administration was keen to involve India in the missile shield programme. "Many US officials are keen to involve New Delhi in US plans for a multifaceted missile shield," said John E Carbaugh, a Washington-based consultant in the latest issue of "India report." He said senior Indian defence officials have also made a couple of trips to the US already this year to specifically  talk about involvement in a missile shield."One of the most exciting areas for future US-Indian  cooperation could be missile defence," said...