52 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 11 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
OpEdNews Op Eds   

North Korea Drives Bush Into Outer Space

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   No comments
Message Ron Fullwood
"The emergence of this new world poses a vital issue: will outer space be preserved for peaceful use and developed for the benefit of all mankind? Or will it become another focus for the arms race-and thus an area of dangerous and sterile competition? The choice is urgent. And it is ours to make." -- Eisenhower


It's too bad that Kim Jong-il just couldn't wait for us to sort out our nation's midterm elections, and, instead, decided this was his moment to impress the world with his nuclear toys. The N. Korean leader announced he was going to test the nukes he says he's sitting on; then announced that he'd done just that. You could almost hear Cheney let out a rebel yell of satisfaction from deep within his underground hideaway.

Bush got on television to condemn the nuclear test which he couldn't yet confirm actually happened. Nonetheless, Bush warned that N. Korea's claim, by itself, constituted a "threat" and was unacceptable. An "immediate response" by the United Nations Security Council was "deserved," Bush said in his prepared remarks. He doesn't want to stop North Korea from playing with their nukes just yet. Bush only has a few years left to launch his original scheme to yoke our military defense resources to a new generation of aerospace industry boondoggles. N. Korea's aggression could be just the ticket Bush is looking for.

It's no surprise that Bush would feel entitled to "respond" to N. Korea. His entire defense strategy was designed around a hypothetical nuclear missile threat from N. Korea and China. Back in the 2000 campaign - when Iran was at the bottom of their fearmongering flow chart - Bush's foreign policy team, the Vulcans, was huddled around their PNAC documents like pledges parsing over their fraternity charter. Condi was there, leading the likes of Perle and Wolfowitz to their ultimate hijacking of our defense resources as their collective zeal and greed to latch on to our nation's defense dollars led the group to invent ways to spark and ignite confrontations with contrived adversaries. 'Axis of evil' was their invention. A gullible nation and a weak and compliant Congress gave rise to the army of global muckrakers who would turn the world against our country, and encourage those who would resist their imperious advance to fashion extreme defenses to match against America's latest brand of extremism.

Of course, there exists the possibility that President Bush actually assembled the Pentagon's recent pack of aerospace executives to run his foreign policy in his own anticipation of a credible 'space threat', to deter a future assault on our nation's security. What foresight he must have had from his Texas ranch. What of it, if executives and shareholders in the space industry happen to rape of our treasury to fulfill their own hunger to dominate military and commercial space? There seems to be no limit to aerospace ambitions. The administration is pushing ahead with the expansion of the military space program, despite the limitations of the nation's weak economy and the adoption of many other costly 'priorities' for the armed forces.

In an amazing coincidence to the N. Korean nuke test, the Bush administration has sneaked and released a major new space policy which just happens to mesh with the missile threat the rouge nation is so intent on proving it possesses. The new Bush space policy report outlines the regime's "commitment to the exploration of space for useful and peaceful purposes", while, at the same time, declaring their intention to "allow U.S. defense and intelligence-related activities in pursuit of national interests" Bush and his chickenhawk cabal, in their best Orwellian dictum, are laying the groundwork to have the world recognize their ambition to litter the upper atmosphere with space weaponry to defend their satellites and shoot down others, as "peaceful" and "for the benefit of all humanity."

"Space has become a place that is increasingly used by a host of nations, consortia, businesses, and entrepreneurs," the document reads. It qualifies that declaration in the U.S. favor by asserting that, "those who effectively utilize space will enjoy added prosperity and security and will hold a substantial advantage over those who do not." Superiority in space is Bush's goal. His industry mentors intend to use our nation's defenses to protect their commercial interests in space alongside of those satellites and payloads which are deployed to protect our national security.

More importantly, the White House-manufactured space policy declares that Bush intends to use military force, "to protect its space capabilities, respond to interference, and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to US national interests;" whatever those interests are to be defined as will apparently be unilaterally decided by our imperial president.

In September 2000, the PNAC drafted a report entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." The conservative foundation- funded report was authored by Bill Kristol, Gary Schmitt, John Bolton and others. The PNAC report asserted that "while long-range precision strikes will certainly play an increasingly large role in U.S. military operations, American forces must remain deployed abroad, in large numbers for decades and that U.S. forces will continue to operate many, if not most, of today's weapons systems for a decade or more."

The PNAC document encouraged the military to "develop and deploy global missile defenses to defend the American homeland and American allies, and to provide a secure basis for U.S. power projection around the world." You can hear their pitch, hawking in favor of their industry benefactor's space weaponry, in its list of objectives:

-Control the new 'International commons' of space and cyberspace, and pave the way for the creation of a new military service with the mission of space control. (U.S. Space Forces; eventually realized in the form of the Air Force-financed Lockheed Space Battle Lab)
-Exploit the "revolution" in military space affairs to insure the long-term superiority of U.S. conventional forces.
-Establish a two-stage transformation process which maximizes the value of current weapons systems through the application of advanced technologies.

The paper claimed that, "Potential rivals such as China were anxious to exploit these technologies broadly, while adversaries like Iran, Iraq and North Korea were rushing to develop ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons as a deterrent to American intervention in regions they sought to dominate. Also that, information and other new technologies - as well as widespread technological and weapons proliferation - were creating a 'dynamic' that might threaten America's ability to exercise its 'dominant' military power."

The authors further warned that, "U.S. nuclear force planning and related arms control policies must take account of a larger set of variables than in the past, including the growing number of small nuclear arsenals -from North Korea to Pakistan to, perhaps soon, Iran and Iraq - and a modernized and expanded Chinese nuclear force."

The 2000 PNAC document is a mirrored synopsis of the Bush administration's foreign policy today. Bush is projecting a domineering image of the United States around the world which has provoked lesser equipped countries to desperate, unconventional defenses; or resigned them to a humiliating surrender to our rape of their lands, their resources and their communities. Bush intends for there to be more conquest - like in Iraq - as the United States exercises its military force around the world; our mandate, our justification, presumably inherent in the mere possession of our instruments of destruction.

Donald Rumsfeld was chosen as defense chief to usher in the next cash cow for the military industry: Space-Based Weaponry. He chaired the Rumsfeld Commission a.k.a.: "Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States" Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was on the board, and Iraq reconstruction's Gen. Jay Garner was there too. The propped up space commission; the invention of Rep. Curt Weldon of Pa. (a frequent traveler to Russia and a friend of the Russian elite), was formed to refute the CIA's assessment that Star Wars was costly, unnecessary, and unworkable. Not surprisingly the commission came down in favor of restarting the Space nuclear race.

Bush talked up the renewal of the Star Wars program during the campaign, money was put into research, and the program is waiting for the war to die down so they can pump more money in.

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Ron Fullwood Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Ron Fullwood, is an activist from Columbia, Md. and the author of the book 'Power of Mischief' : Military Industry Executives are Making Bush Policy and the Country is Paying the Price
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

John McCain Stands With Bigots and Racists

Further Down That Bloody Path In Iraq

Calling the Bluff on the Limits of American Power and Influence

What's Really Going On In Space?

Allowing China a Dominant Role in Afghanistan's Future

Bush's Enduring Militarism in Iraq

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend