Target hit in missile defense test
By Julian E. Barnes - LA Times
December 6th,2008

Reporting from Washington --
The Defense Department conducted a successful test of its missile defense system Friday, taking out a dummy target with an interceptor strike over the Pacific Ocean, an exercise officials hope will build support for the controversial initiative within the incoming Obama administration.

Military officials said the test showed for the first time that various radars and defense systems could be used together.

However, the success of the test was tempered by the failure of the dummy target to deploy planned "countermeasures" -- devices designed to try to throw off the interceptor. As a result, officials could not tell whether the system can distinguish between a warhead and decoys that probably would accompany an actual attack.

Nonetheless, some Pentagon officials hope the test, the last of the Bush administration, will impede attempts by the incoming administration to scale back the missile defense system.

During the campaign, President-elect Barack Obama and his advisors identified missile defense as an area where spending could be trimmed. But some officials in the Pentagon oppose funding cuts that would slow development of a system that they say has begun to prove itself as effective protection.
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Note: ...effective protection against what? There is NO country, or group of people anywhere in the world which would launch an armed intercontinental missile at the United States with any hope of surviving retaliation.

This is just the DoD trying to gain funding with their obscene emphasis on militarism. Not to mention that the only real value of a "missile defense shield" is to lay the groundwork for another century of US inspired buildup and supply of war-making equipment for every major player in international affairs, and has nothing to do with preventing an ICBM launch against America.

Unless as a Nation we are so f***ing stupid as to push some nuclear powered country to the brink of disaster where they just don't care what happens to them and their people. Think Pakistan, not North Korea, China, or Iran.