Pentagon Eyes the Ultimate High Ground!!!!!! U.S. bases on the moon!!

[AGENDA21]

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Apr. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- After 50 years of international cooperation and peace in space, the U.S. military insists that it has no plans to usher in an age of space-based warfare.

The Pentagon's space-related research is not about launching attacks, officials have told arms control experts and the news media, noting that the name of the branch that conducts much of this research makes it clear: the Missile Defense Agency.

They add that the Defense Department's space-related funding is too insignificant -- just 3 percent of the $440 billion defense budget -- to suggest the U.S. is preparing to "weaponize" Earth's lower orbits.

But even if space-related research and testing now appear like a few small sparkles in a black expanse, the anxiety they're spreading glows like a full moon.

U.S.-based arms-control experts tell IPS they have seen real concern about a U.S. space weapon in the faces of Chinese scientists. Also expressing alarm is China's state-run press, which lately has reported on a future U.S. "space bomber."

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/462588/politicsus_pentagon_eyes_the_ultimate_high_ground/index.html?source=r_space

[EST]

1. Any time they say they aren't, they are.

Any time they say they are, they're not. Fool me once...

Zero credibility

[AGENDA21]

2. I dont know what to think!

Wheres the money gonna come from....?

[bananas]

4. PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses" talks about space-based weapons

I don't recall if it mentioned the moon.

There really isn't any such thing as "money" anymore,
everything is done with credit. They will get a loan from China.

[thefool_wa]

3. We don't need space weapons

At least not to attack the earth. What we do need is a pseudo-militarized lunar colony. Not offensive, but defensive. If China wants to establish a moon base, more power to them, but we need to be their first and we need to be the more able-bodied force when it comes to military operations in low-to-no G.

I guess I am just a fan of the Boy Scout motto, "Be Prepared". That and a little insurance is alot better than wondering, in 50-75 years, why we didn't think to do this earlier as the Chinese are staging an invasion with moon rocks as their first strike.

Am I paranoid? Probably. But if you are always looking over your shoulder it is alot harder for people to sneak up on you.

[pretzel4gore]

5. the pentagon planners are members of a dying species on a dying planet

and all their planning denotes nothing but vanity.....

[OneBlueSky]

6. we'll get to this after we've rebuilt New Orleans and . . .

the Gulf Coast, ended the war in Iraq, initiated universal health care, and developed sufficient alternative energy sources to no longer rely on fossil fuels . . .

[lapfog_1]

7. BTW, just some fact checks.

3 perent of 440 B is 13.2 B... which is more money than NASA spends on space travel and research.