Warfare in Space, Yeah, I told you so...
By Geoff Metcalf (10/03/06)
"Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons,
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
But with a little act upon the blood
Burn like the mines of sulphur." --William Shakespeare
A recent London Telegraph article reported, ‘Beijing secretly fires lasers to disable US satellites’. Hell-o!
It is bittersweet to find documentation of previous speculation and analysis.
I’ve been grousing about China for a long time…so have a lot of people smarter and wiser than me.
So now, “China has secretly fired powerful laser weapons designed to disable American spy satellites by ‘blinding’ their sensitive surveillance devices.â€
Over a year ago, http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/6/5/174150.shtml I wrote, China continues to build its military and technology. The Clinton administration provided China with a 10-year boost in satellite technology (either as a bribe or gratuity), and the immediate result was China's move to create a Chinese GPS system separate and apart from the current U.S. global system.
‘Preparing the battlefield' is a martial basic. Once upon a time it consisted of archers attriting the enemy. Later it became artillery ‘softening' the enemy. Delivery systems have improved with laser designators and now GPS ‘smart bombs'.
In the future, ‘preparing the battlefield' will include disrupting command and control mechanisms. With two rival GPS systems in place, we can anticipate that prior to any tanks or missiles being deployed, phase one will consist of trying to take out satellites. ‘Preparation of the battlefield' isn't going to happen just ‘on the battlefield' but also in space. And now it HAS….
Much of our contemporary military command and control, navigation and weapons systems are linked to GPS. Navigation and fire adjustment skills are at risk of GPS dependence…and just when it is most needed GPS might not be around.
The unreported Chinese attacks on our satellites were kept secret by the Bush administration, ‘apparently’ for fear it would undermine vain efforts to co-opt China in diplomatic moves against North Korea and Iran. It was a fool’s errand…epic bureaucratic brain flatulence.
If China had been the least bit interested in chilling North Korea’s jets (and nukes) they could have done it in a New York minute (and the still could). They didn’t. They’ haven’t. And they won’t. And the why is not big secret: Because it is not in their strategic best interest to do so. Smarter men and women than me ought to know that.
According to Defense News sources “there had been a fierce internal battle within Washington over whether to make the attacks public.â€
"After a contentious debate, the White House directed the Pentagon to limit its concern to one line," Defense News said. One line?
This is a BIG honking deal!
Senior American officials report, "China not only has the capability, but has exercised it." American satellites like the giant Keyhole craft have come under attack "several times" in recent years. And still there have been no negative consequences? OUTRAGEOUS!
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was half right and half wrong when he said he does not think any country threatens China (THAT is true), but when he said the United States does not see China as a threat, he is either being disingenuous, uncharacteristically myopic, or dumber than a box of rocks to say it poses no threat to the U.S.
Ø China has repeatedly SAID it is a threat.
Ø China has said it will attack Taiwan if Taiwan tries to declare independence.
Ø Unchecked, within 15 years Communist China will control over 80 percent of the South China Sea.
Ø By 2010 (four years from now) China will have a navy FIVE TIMES LARGER THAN OURS.
Ø After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, China told the elder Bush there was now a new cold war … between China and the U.S.
Ø Chinese President Jiang Zemin told his central military commission it should "prepare for war with the United States by the year 2008."
China is a threat because IT HAS SAID SO! Not only has it said so, but also its plans, actions to implement the plan, and what it has done and not done, are evidence of a threat.
An old Army buddy who attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, puts a fine point on the China threat. He reported in 1994 "war games" (which were played out in a 2010 environment) the U.S. Seventh Fleet getting crushed by China.
This isn’t chicken hawk saber rattling ranting. China IS a threat … a for-real, you damnbetcha threat. So, what are we doing about it?
Saddam Hussein posed a ‘potential’ threat and we invaded Iraq. China attacks our satellites and they don’t even get a snotty Foggy Bottom letter? And if they did get a snotty note, why keep it a secret?
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