Space set to become war zone, warns US general

[Emillereid]

October 16, 2003 - 2:11PM


Space may become a war zone in the not-too-distant future, a senior US military officer said today, hours after China became only the third country after the US and the former Soviet Union to put a man in space.

"In my view it will not be long before space becomes a battleground," Lieutenant General Edward Anderson, deputy commander of US Northern Command, said in response to a question at a geospatial intelligence conference in New Orleans.

"Our military forces ... depend very, very heavily on space capabilities, and so that is a statement of the obvious to our potential threat, whoever that may be," he said.

"They can see that one of the ways that they can certainly diminish our capabilities will be to attack the space systems," said Anderson, who was formerly with US Space Command. ...

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/16/1065917535115.html

I for one had very different dreams about our human future -- I had hoped that our exploration of space might unite humanity in a common vision Looks like the militarists have other ideas.

[Robb]

1. Well, of course.

I mean, lookit. Commies outnumber us 2 to 1 in space now.

/sarcasm off

[ixion]

2. sad... so many humans see everything as a battlefield

if you can have a war somewhere, you'd better believe there is some psycho out there ready to wage it.

*sigh*

[belab13]

3. space program equates to the development of long range delivery system .

for, you guessed it , bombs.. China will be a legitimate super-power both economically, and militarily in 10-15 years. One can only hope, the u.s. will have more rational leaders by then. I will not be surprised if our economy, currency, and infrastructure is in shambles. World oil reserves will be all but gone by then, and with regards to developing alternative energies, the lack of foresight by our leaders both corporate and political will be the nail in the proverbial coffin.

[section321]

8. Anyone that can field a 2-300 million man army is a force...

There's a lot of Chinese in China.

Add to that a decent economy and they are definitely a force.

[LeftHander]

4. Exactly why we need a weapons ban treaty in space

To stop assholes like this dumbass paranoid general.

[wuushew]

11. We have already signed a treaty, which shrub disreguards

http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/treat/ost/ost.html




Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the
Activities of States in the Exploration and
Use of Outer Space
The General Assembly,

Inspired by the great prospects opening up before mankind as a result of man's entry into outer space,

Recognizing the common interest of all mankind in the progress of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes,

Believing that the exploration and use of outer space should be carried on for the betterment of mankind and for the benefit of States irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development,

Desiring to contribute to broad international co-operation in the scientific as well as in the legal aspects of exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes,

Believing that such co-operation will contribute to the development of mutual understanding and to the strengthening of friendly relations between nations and peoples,

Recalling its resolution 110 (II) of 3 November 1947, which condemned propaganda designed or likely to provoke or encourage any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, and considering that the aforementioned resolution is applicable to outer space,

Taking into consideration its resolutions 1721 (XVI) of 20 December 1961 and 1802 (XVII) of 14 December 1962, adopted unanimously by the States Members of the United Nations,

Solemnly declares that in the exploration and use of outer space States should be guided by the following principles:

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[chemenger]

5. Sounds like a preemptive strike

may be in the works for China. Can't have them threatening our space-based military and civilian satellite systems now can we? AND GOD FORBID ... would they land a man on the moon just to rip up our Murikan flag? OH, THE HUMANITY!

[Zhade]

7. Attacking China would be a suicidal move - preemptive or otherwise.

They have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more people to recruit than we do. In fact, they could lose 100 million soldiers and not be that much the worse for wear.

IIRC, doesn't PNAC call for the militarization of space?

[FlashHarry]

6. Hell, I say let 'em fight it out in space.

Fewer civilians up there...

[bpilgrim]

15. it may start there but it certainly won't end there - n/t

:hi:

peace

[tom_paine]

9. Busheviks want space to be a battleground

The Emperor* has already issued an Imperial Fiat decreeing the soon-to-be-militarization of space.

Of course it is going to become a battleground.

http://www.altpr.org/apr15/nukes.html

Scroll down until you see the commentary on US Space Command's "Vision for 2020".

[DBoon]

10. An article from May issue of EETimes...

This one is very interesting:

http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030522S0050

Quote:

The nation's largest intelligence agency by budget and in control of all U.S. spy satellites, NRO is talking openly with the U.S. Air Force Space Command about actively denying the use of space for intelligence purposes to any other nation at any time—not just adversaries, but even longtime allies, according to NRO director Peter Teets.

[Bridget Burke]

12. Interesting, indeed...

"...actively denying the use of space for intelligence purposes..."

Isn't space, ummm, kinda LARGE?

[Barrett808]

13. But low-earth orbit could be "owned" by one power

Shooting down spysats in LEO ain't no thang.

[belab13]

19. this kind of thinking is what's accelerating the European's Magellan (gps)

project, the chinese space program, the iranian and korean nuclear programs. these chuckleheads think they can claim dominion over space. I'm pretty sure International Law considers space a commons relegated for scientific exploration not unlike Antartica.

[ConcernedCanuk]

14. Think abou it - China has over 1.5 BILLION people

. . and if they manage to "knock out" some of the USA's sattelites, the USA's missiles would not be so "smart"

. . I think China is going to start to "flex" real soon and tell the USA to F_ck off and settle down -

Just My Humble Canuk Opinion

[bobthedrummer]

16. What might be up there was mentioned in HR2977 then lost in the revision

http://www.raven1.net/govptron.htm

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

17. That's one of the PNAC wet dreams.

Christ, where the hell are the people who want to work for peace. Certainly not associated with this administration.

[tlcandie]

18. Will this mean no more telescopes without license?

Seriously though, Kucinich addressed the space issue and someone mentioned they thought he was a bit kooky :D At any rate, BP, you are always on top of things and I'm sure you are well aware of Kucinich's stance on all issues including space and peace! :hi:

[enki23]

20. for him, that's likely to be wishful thinking

.