Tuesday, December 23, 2003
The Myth of the Patriot Missile Defense System exposed and run, Ralph, run?
Image courtesy: Fox News
How you never get the full story living in the US: big-up to my Dad for putting me up on the Canadian TV program "The Can't-Miss Missile" produced by Tamar Weinstein and the CBC Newsworld show The Fifth Estate.
"The Can't-Miss Missile" explores the myth behind the Raytheon-produced Patriot Anti-Missile Defense system's alleged, and much-celebrated by the US military, 100% success rate destroying Iraqi Scud missiles during the '91 Gulf War.
Including interviews with Patriot Missile analyst and Carnegie Non-Proliferation Project Director Joseph Cirincione and MIT missile expert Theodore Postol, the show exposes how the Pentagon overhyped the effectiveness of the Patriot System leading to the death and injury of over 100 American soldiers (as well as many other Isareli and other civillians in separate attacks) during the Gulf War.
Lack of acknowledegement of potential flaws in the missile system or of any real work done to correct or improve them also likely led to the "friendly fire" deaths of two UK Coalition Force jet pilots (Fox News) and a US F16 jet fighter (Guardian UK) in this year's Iraq War as well as forcing another US F16 jet fighter to take out a patriot installation before it shot him down (Fox News).
This program is a must-view for anyone who believes the current administration has mismanaged the Iraq War and that their hubris and arrogance has not only not made the US safer, but needlessly put young American soldiers in harm's way by using unproven, untested weapons systems that cannot do what the military and the manufacturer claims they can.
For more details on how to obatain a copy of "The Can't-Miss Missile" for viewing, contact:
CBC/Fifth Estate
Box 500
Station "A"
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
M5W 1E6
Tel: 416.205.6663
email: fifth@toronto.cbc.ca
web: www.cbc.ca/fifth
Related reading: Joe's Missile Defense Reader (CEIP.org)
Who's Keeping Saddam's Secret Safe?: Rory O'Connor's piece on how most Americans don't know the hidden history of Saddam's relations with America, because it has been kept from them by administrations of both parties and their cronies in the press. (MediaChannel.org)
The flipside to the so-called "Liberal Media": the conservative U.S. media attacks an Edmonton, Canada website for supporting presidential democratic candidate Wesley Clark. (Globe & Mail)
Professor Rosen, the Beton Michael Kaneb Professor of National Security and Military Affairs at Harvard University, asks whether the United States is "A New American Empire." Can, and should, the U.S. use its military predominance to regulate interstate relations and create minimally acceptable domestic governments within other countries? What are the alternatives to this approach, and how might U.S. interventionist policies affect educational institutions? (Harvard @ Home Subscription may be required.)
Run, Ralph, run? Not if I had anything to do with it. Ralph Nader's exploratory team are conducting an online survey on whether he should run for president again in 2004.
I happen to believe Nader's campaign in 2000 is a large part of the reason why Gore lost that election. (Others disagree: Alternet.org, Green Party, MikeHersh.com and City of Almeda Greens) However, this time around I think it's even more important that Nader stay out of this race and give the Dems. the best shot possible at unseating Bush by avoiding splitting the left-of-center, progressive vote.
I strongly urge those who care (and that should be everyone) to register your opinion here asking Nader to stay out.
