Waste of tax dollars, paranoia due to terrorism, or the best security the president and others can buy?

Allright guys and gals, let's get some input here...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20031211/ts_nm/arms_missile_test_dc_2

I think that's a fairly reasonable defense strategy. More and more countries are developing ballistic missile technology, so the threat to the country and our allies is fairly real. Most of the Asian countries get pretty freaked out every time China decides to lob a missile over thier heads.

I don't think it's completely outrageous, just not something that needs to be a priority right now. I think that money would be much better spent on defense against terrorism, and I don't think Al-Qaeda is likely to shoot missiles at us.
As for North Korea, I don't think they'd ever fire a nuke at us. Kim Jong Il (or is it Il Jong? I can't remember), as crazy as he may be, knows that if he shot a nuke at us, the hammer of god would descend upon North Korea. And he's too in love with power to risk it.
Basically, the shield is misguided at best.

Originally posted by JasonK81
Basically, the shield is misguided at best. We have a new cold war coming soon with China. The writing is on the wall. I guess this is another bargaining chip.

I don't believe in another "cold war" with China.

China is not expansionist. It is not a military threat to its neighbours. The main problem of Chinese leaders is to maintain their grip on the country while allowing economic growth - a delicate balance between modernization, liberal economy and dictature. They need the USA as a supplier of high tech and as a customer for their goods.
The competition between China and the USA is economic, not military. China's army is way back behind the USA and knows it.

If you think for one minute China is not dangerous, just keep on dreaming.

As far as Korea goes they aren't the threat the media makes them out to be, most of there weapons(including the nucs) would probably blow up in there faces before the were fired. They may have this and that, but what they have is junk. I am not saying they are not a threat, any country with a lunny in charge that has weapons is a threat. Lets face it though they have junk for weapons their people are tired and hungry etc... China on the other hand is smart and would love nothing more then world domination.

China is just waiting for the opportunity. Don't make the error of misjudging their intentions. The investment in yet another weapons system is well warranted.

Originally posted by astrapol2
The main problem of Chinese leaders is to maintain their grip on the country while allowing economic growth - a delicate balance between modernization, liberal economy and dictature.

And that's a pretty big problem, because until they open up their society, their economic growth is going to be virtually nil. They can't afford to maintain a non-democratic society and expect to get very far. Without a free press, without freedom of expression, China's ability to generate new, economically valuable ideas is going to be limited. I'm not sure exactly what China's economic controls are like, but I'm guessing they are fairly protectionist. And until foreign governments and big investors feel they can reliably invest their money in China, capital is going to be hard to come by.
They can't have it both ways.

Originally posted by JasonK81
Without a free press, without freedom of expression, China's ability to generate new, economically valuable ideas is going to be limited. I'm not sure exactly what China's economic controls are like, but I'm guessing they are fairly protectionist. And until foreign governments and big investors feel they can reliably invest their money in China, capital is going to be hard to come by.


Unfortunately you're quite wrong. China's economic growth has been tremendous during the last decade, and it is the first country in the world for foreign investment. And they do not really need "new, economically valuable ideas". They just have good old capiltalism mixed with the political oppression of communism - a society without human rights, without trade unions, without free press to balance the power of the few owners of the industry.
And that does not seem to bother western leaders very much.

I agree with the fact that it is going to be helpful to be "protected" by incoming ICBM's and other warheads and whatnot...I also agree that it shouldn't pe top priority, but at least something to consider, now that we have more and more countries wanting to produce their own versions of WMD's. But we shouldn't have to worry about nuke attacks whether or not we have a shield installed.

Think about it...N. Korea really doesn't have the technology to fire such a huge missile capable of total annihilation...I'm not worried about what they can do when the country is mainly poor people suffering in communism...their army is a whole different story.

Our biggest threats (nukewise) is China and Russia, since they have the two biggest nuclear arsenals in the world. China has got bigger problems (i.e. population control) than to be firing and testing nukes at will, and Russia won't do it cause they've really had nothing against us since the cold war days (except for the small pockets of loyalists who probly still believe we should die).

So in the end, its good to have the protection, though it probly won't be needed in the near future.

Did the U.S. need all those nukes it built during the Cold War? Other than testing a few here & there, they've never been used in anger. The nukes kept the U.S.S.R. at bay, and that made them a worthwhile investment. Would that any new weapons system provide the same deterrent.