“Space superiority is not our birthright, but it is our destiny,” proclaimed General Lord. “Space superiority is our day-to-day mission. Space supremacy is our vision for the future.”
No, it’s not more stilted dialogue delivered by a dark figure with an unbelievable name in the new Star Wars movie. It’s a straight-faced statement of purpose by the leader of the U.S. Air Force Space Command.
“We must establish and maintain space superiority,” General Lance Lord told the U.S. Congress. “Simply put, it’s the American way of fighting.”
Moreover, as the New York Times reported, billions of dollars has already been spent on space warfare, with little public knowledge or debate. And without public outcry, it will soon become official U.S. policy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/business/18space.html?
According to the New York Times story and other sources, Air Force doctrine defines space superiority as “freedom to attack as well as freedom from attack” in space. Currently there are weapons planned for attacking earth targets from space (including the so-called Rods from Gods, which would hurl cylinders of metal, including uranium, from space to targets on the ground, with the force of nuclear weapons) and space planes which could strike ground targets from the other side of the planet.
“This is the type of prompt Global Strike I have identified as a top priority for our space and missile force,” General Lord said.
General Cartwright of the Space Command told a Senate Arms Services subcommittee that the goal is to provide the U.S. with the capability of attacking “very quickly, with very short time lines on the planning and delivery, any place on the face of the earth.”
U.S. planners are also looking at destroying other space targets, beginning with existing satellites of potential enemies but also commercial communications and weather satellites that could aid opponents.
All of this—plus the more publicized “star wars” missile defense— has been quietly accelerated during the Bush administration, and is one reason the U.S. withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
The fact that no other nation is known to be designing space weapons is apparently no deterrent. Virtually every technologically advanced nation on the planet has objected to the U.S. plans. But if plans go forward, a new arms race may very well be the outcome, and it will costs horrendous amounts of money.
There are major concerns about the havoc that could be caused on earth’s surface even by testing such weapons, especially if nuclear weapons or nuclear powered space vehicles are included.
Groups that oppose this strategy point to the needs on the planet itself, and all the scientists and money tied up in this essentially insane project.
Even some advocates of space travel and exploration point out that warfare around the earth will result in so much debris that vehicles may never get off the planet to explore space.
There are more details on these plans and groups that oppose them here at http://www.armscontrol.org and this summary of the space command threat:
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2004_11/Krepon.asp
The reason this is news now is that the White House is considering making this official U.S. policy by accepting an Air Force directive outlining all of this. Bush is expected to approve it within weeks.
What if a really crazy group of people got control of these weapons—you know, religious zealots who want to hasten the Rapture, or political assassins who see the world in black and white, and who bare their teeth even at allies when they dare to differ? Look out France! In 45 seconds you could be French toast, because whoever isn’t with us is against us.
Only a concerted public outcry can save the planet.
Sounds like science fiction, doesn’t it?