"The Bush administration's push to deploy a $22 billion missile defense system by this time next year could lead to unforeseen cost increases and technical failures that will have to be fixed before it can hope to stop enemy warheads, Congressional investigators said yesterday. The General Accounting Office said the Pentagon was combining 10 crucial technologies into a system without knowing if they can handle the task, often described as trying to hit a bullet with a bullet... The overall uncertainty has produced 'a greater likelihood that critical technologies will not work as intended in planned flight tests.' If failures ensue, the Pentagon 'may have to spend additional funds in an attempt to identify and correct problems by September 2004 or accept a less capable system.' Dr. Philip E. Coyle, a former head of weapons testing at the Pentagon, said that the report showed that if the system was switched on in late '04, it would be 'no more than a scarecrow, not a real defense.'"

"Boost-phase missile defense, the strategy of destroying a hostile ICBM as it climbs into the sky during the first few minutes of flight, is virtually impossible in all but a few limited circumstances, according to a 476-page report released by the American Physical Society.... The report's authors did conclude that 'when all factors are considered none of the boost-phase defense concepts studied would be viable for the foreseeable future to defend the nation against even first-generation solid-propellant ICBMs.' Physicists Frederick Lamb of the Univ. of Illinois and Daniel Kleppner of MIT, cochairs of the study, said they were careful to deliver an impartial report based entirely on scientific and technical aspects of the boost-phase concept. Lamb said the report, which relied on unclassified material and took some 2 years to produce, was intended to be both 'compelling and sophisticated' in the depth of its analysis and 'bulletproof' to scientific challenge."

George W. Bush wants to exempt the missile defense system from the real-world operational testing legally required of every new weapons system. Buried in Bush's 2004 budget is a rewrite of a law designed to prevent the production and fielding of weapons systems that don't work. This latest attempt to accelerate the boondoggle follows administration moves to bypass congressional reporting and oversight requirements for national missile defense system. What's the rush? What's the use of deploying a defense system that isn't even guaranteed to work? Maybe Bush is just making sure his campaign contributors get their pork-barrel defense contracts before the next presidential selection.

NY Times reports that Bush "has moved to dismiss the lawsuit of a vocal critic of antimissile technology, saying her case will jeopardize military secrets. The critic, Dr. Nira Schwartz, has long argued that the heart of the nation's main antimissile system is faulty but that industry and the government have conspired to cover up its flaws. Dr. Schwartz, who became familiar with the system when she worked at TRW, said the administration hoped to quash her suit because it was 'afraid that if it goes to trial the truth will come out - that the technology doesn't work.' The dispute centers on whether the government is permitted to invoke the state secrets privilege, a provision of common law, and argue that hearing her suit in court will result in public disclosure of information that will harm national security... 'It's the neutron bomb of litigation,' said Tom Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive."

Stratfor.com strategic forecasting situation reports for 12/17: "U.S. President George W. Bush has ordered the military to begin installing a national missile defense system. Ten ground-based interceptors will be installed in Fort Greeley, Alaska, by 2004 and 10 more by 2005 or 2006. The Danish and British governments have received requests from Washington to use radar sites in Greenland and England, but have not yet sent replies." Also in today's stratfor.com: old prices skyrocket while U.S. dollar value drops.... Sharon's Likud Party pulls a Bush, members arrested for bribery to rig election results.... U.S. military finishes 9-day rehearsal of war against Iraq....Two U.S. soldiers injured in attack on jeep....Turkey Deploys Troops for Bush war...Saudi Arabia sets up direct phone lines into Iraq to facilitate "business."

At least 100,000 man-made pieces of junk are now orbiting Earth - a ring of debris where, incredibly, Bush and his band of aging Buck Rogers wannabes want to put its missile defense system - Space-Based Lasers and thousands of "brilliant Pebbles" space-based interceptor missiles. These weapons were wisely forbidden by the 1972 ABM Treaty from which Bush, of course, withdrew. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists warns that this ill-conceived weaponization of space would prove disastrous: "One war in space could encase the entire planet in a shell of whizzing debris that would thereafter make space near the Earth highly hazardous for peaceful as well as military purposes. To operate a satellite within this cloud of millions of tiny missiles would be impossible: no more Hubble Space Telescopes or International Space Stations. Even communications and GPS satellites in higher orbits would be endangered." Yet this is the man Congress wants to give unprecedented power to?

"The idea behind missile defenses has always been to save people from the disastrous consequences of nuclear attack. How ironic it is, then, that some of the defensive systems the United States is actively planning, including the U.S. Air Forces Airborne- and Space-Based Laser systems could well result in the deaths of many innocent people. In the case of a successful laser intercept, the difference would be that those who were killed would not be among those who had been targeted. The number killed would vary dramatically, depending on what country launched the missile and at what point in its powered flight the boost-phase defense struck. If a missile aimed at a major U.S. city were launched from a point in the Middle East, the destruction of the missile would cause an intact warhead (or warheads) to fall short of the target, landing and exploding somewhere in Europe or in Turkey instead...." -Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

In a letter to Bush, Biff Baker writes: "On March 7th, 2002 you stated that 'Reform should begin with accountability, and reform should start at the top. The chief executive officer has a daily duty to oversee the entire enterprise, the entire firm, and therefore, bears a unique responsibility for serving shareholder interests.' Furthermore, you stated that the government must 'punish corporate leaders who clearly abuse their powers'... On that same day, as a member of the Independent Assessment Team (IAT) for the Missile Defense program... I determined beyond a reasonable doubt that fraudulent contracts were being issued by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC)... As you begin to investigate and prosecute CEO's from private corporations, you should clean your own house first in the Department of Defense. On behalf of all constituents and taxpayers, we do not want any more cover-ups or false promises!"

The Colorado Springs Independent reports, "The national missile-defense system is supposed to protect America against a nuclear attack. Biff Baker's job was to protect American taxpayers against getting ripped off by the agencies and contractors developing the system. When he did his job too well, he says, he was fired. Now, federal investigators are looking into Baker's allegations that agencies working on the missile-defense program are engaging in fraud, waste and abuse. Baker... claims the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency and the Army Space and Missile Defense Command have been awarding sole-source contracts to a defense contracting company [SY Technology] run by a retired high-ranking general [Jay Garner], who at one point served as assistant vice chief of staff for the Army. This, Baker maintains, not only raises questions about business dealings between current and retired command staff, but also violates federal regulations that require" competitive bids.

You might say after reading the news or watching it...(though we doubt it) "Wow it may be ok to pull out of the ABM treaty, after all, it has expired." There was NO expiration date on the treaty. The expiration that they are talking about, is the made up timeframe, 6 months from December, when Bush made his announcement without Congressional approval to pull out of the ABM treaty. Once again the Bush Puppets (aka the American press) fall for his Bushit.

CNN reports "Thirty-one House members filed suit against President [sic] Bush in an effort to block the president from withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. [The Pentagon is ready to begin work] on underground silos for missile interceptors in Alaska. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the lead plaintiff, said the president [sic] does not have the authority to unilaterally withdraw from a treaty and should first seek the consent of Congress. 'The Constitution of the United States is being demolished and we need to challenge that in court,' he said. The lawsuit... states that while the Constitution is silent on the role of Congress in treaty terminations, treaties have the status of 'supreme law of the land' equivalent to federal laws and that laws can be repealed only by an act of Congress. [Senstor Russ Feingold tried unsuccessfully] to bring a resolution to the Senate floor stating that the president cannot withdraw from the treaty without Senate approval."

Philip E. Coyle III, former assistant secretary of defense and director, operational test and evaluation (1994-2001), writes: "The Pentagon has made a decision that threatens to keep the American public and Congress in the dark about how things are going with the Bush administration's high-priority missile defense program… The current test program is not giving away any secrets; nor is there any danger of that for years to come. The new classification policy is not justified by either the progress in tests so far or by the realism of the tests… Equally disturbing is the agency's new policy of withholding information from the Pentagon's own independent review offices… Oversight might not be such an issue if missile defense weren't so costly… The Ground-Based Midcourse System alone to cost more than $70 billion, and the full, layered system planned by the Bush administration to cost more than $200 billion… roughly eight times the cost of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb."

The Guardian reports, "After a year of bitter Russian opposition to a scheme which Moscow warned could jeopardise global nuclear stability and spark a new arms race, the Kremlin has accepted a White House offer to cooperate on the national missile defence project (NMD). The Pentagon is to start construction work on NMD in Alaska within weeks following a frenzy of intense diplomacy that this week has resulted in the announcement of a major arms control treaty with Russia... The initiative will be unveiled next week when Mr Bush visits Russia for the first time for a summit with Mr Putin... The Russians now hope to win a few contracts from the Americans in the multibillion dollar scheme. Mark Bromley, of the British American Security Information Council, said that Russian military industries had been lobbying for the past year and a half for Moscow to get involved in missile defence cooperation with the US, in the hope of winning American contracts and investment."

"Dear Senator: Please don't be silent while President [sic] Bush seeks to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. The Senate ratified this treaty three decades ago, and the president has no right to unilaterally walk away from it without the advice and consent of the Senate. Withdrawing from this treaty could lead to dangerous new nuclear arms races with Russia and China and move the world closer to nuclear war. Please stop Mr. Bush from taking this dangerous action. We need to live by the rule of law and the US needs to set an example. Disavowing treaties is the worst possible example. Don't let the president shred our constitution to pursue foolish dreams of weaponizing outer space and deploying unworkable missile defenses. US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty will become effective on June 13, 2002 unless you act now to prevent the president's unilateral action. The time is short. I urge you to TAKE ACTION NOW." Send a free fax to your Senator!

The Washington Post reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield has put the nuclear card on the table by encouraging the Defense Science Board to explore the idea of using nuclear-tipped interceptors in a national missile defense system. It's an old idea discarded over 30 years ago as politically unacceptable. Their use would solve one of the pesky little problems facing Bush's Star Wars initiative: the test failures because the missile failed to deploy on the target. But nuclear-armed interceptors don't distinguish among decoys, they explode or radiate everything in the vicinity. No need for precision, just blow it all up! And just how much of your hard-earned tax dollars will wind up as investment returns for Carlyle Group investors as a result of this? Isn't there a conflict of interest when Bush is a presumed heir to an estate enriched by investments in Carlyle Group defense contracts that will build this 'nukular' nightmare?

AP writes "An interceptor rocket smashed into a dummy warhead 140 miles over the Pacific Friday night in the fourth successful test of part of the planned U.S. missile defense system, a Pentagon spokeswoman said... The military launched the target missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:11 p.m., Irwin said. The interceptor took off from Meck Island in Kwajalein Atoll at 9:32 p.m. and collided with the dummy warhead in space nine minutes later, she said. Friday's test was the most complex of its kind so far. The dummy missile jettisoned three balloons to try to fool the interceptor. The most recent test included only one decoy balloon." Here we go again. Today a successful test, tomorrow we learn the truth about the test. Hopefully, this time the target didn't have a beacon to help the interceptor find it. Each test costs $100 MILLION - why don't we use that money to educate children?

Dr. Robert M. Bowman (Lt. Col., USAF, ret.) directed all of the "Star Wars" programs under Presidents Ford and Carter, when their existence was secret. He is now President of the Institute for Space and Security Studies. And he presents 10 concise questions Bush must answer YES to before the US withdraws from the ABM treaty, starting with: "1) Does a President of the United States have the Constitutional power to terminate a treaty without the advice and consent of the Senate or the approval of the Congress?" Read all 10 questions, and tell your Senators, Representatives, and the media that the US should NOT break the ABM Treaty!

"A Pentagon agency, two major military contractors [Boeing and TRW], and an independent research team led by MIT scientists produced flawed studies that exaggerated the success of a key test used to justify spending billions of dollars on the fledgling national missile defense program," according to a GAO study obtained by the Boston Globe. "The data are garbage - they had to use all these software shenanigans and throw out two-thirds of the data to make it look like a success," said a congressional source close to the GAO investigation. "Up to now, there has been no independent verification of the contractors' claims. This pulls out the rug from those calling the test a success. By any definition, there's no way to call it a success." The report was requested by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), "who has proposed a bill calling for independent oversight of the missile shield." We demand that Congress pass Markey's bill!

From a FAS statement: "The Bush Administration's decision to withdraw from the ABM treaty is both unnecessary and unwise. It is ironic that as we rediscover the need for international cooperation, we are taking an action almost universally opposed by our allies. And our allies are not the only ones who support the ABM treaty: Scientists are nearly unanimous in calling national missile defense unworkable. It is distressing that President Bush has chosen to listen to the demagoguery of missile-defense enthusiasts instead of to the wisdom of America's brightest scientists."

"Part of the national missile defense system being pushed by U.S. President George Bush and developed by defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. is running way over cost and well behind schedule, The Wall Street Journal said on Friday. The Space-Based Infrared System-High, known as SBIRS-High, is a key part of what has been known as the National Missile Defense System, a ground-based shield designed to hamper an enemy missile attack, the newspaper said. The SBIRS-High would be the early-warning system to detect whether an attack had been launched against the United States, the newspaper said. As a result of development problems, requested changes and funding shortfalls, the satellite system and its ground stations will now probably cost between $1.7 billion and $2 billion more and not be completed until 2009, three years later than planned."

Star Wars critics have long argued that the U.S. was infinitely more vulnerable to a nuclear bomb carried in a suitcase or shipped in on a barge, than it was to a long-range missile - which our satellites could detect, and our bombers could destroy. Still, Bush and the Republicans have wasted billions on Star Wars and ignored the suitcase bomb threat. Now it appears that Osama Bin Laden recently bought several nuclear suitcase bombs from a range of former Soviet republics including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia. Intelligence sources also worry that Bin Laden could simply scatter poisonous nuclear materials with deadly effect - think Anthrax without Cipro. It's time for Bush to abandon Star Wars and focus on Suitcase Bombs.

NY Times Maureen Dowd is right - Shrub IS obsessed with building a "missile doily." But her explanation - "that it's filial, stemming from his fear of repeating his father's fatal mistake of alienating the right wing" is silly. There is one simple explanation for EVERYTHING Bu$h does - namely, making his rich friends richer. In this case, it's the defense contractors. The key to understanding Shrub is not Sigmund Freud, it's Deep Throat: "Follow the Money!"

The Pentagon began working on anti-missile systems in 1956 with the Army's Nike-Zeus program. Every President since Eisenhower has concluded that missile defense cannot overcome three basic problems: "making the system able to shoot down more than one incoming missile at a time, designing radars that can distinguish between a missile and decoys, and defending the radars themselves from attack." The most recent test on July 14 was completely rigged, with a "beacon" on the incoming missile, a feature our enemies are unlikely to supply. The current head of the anti-missile program, General Ronald T. Kadish, told Congress: "These tests were not set up to evaluate the ability of the system to discriminate a full suite of real-world countermeasures." Duh! If our public schools produced such spectacular failures, the Bushies would demand that they be shut down. After 45 years of massive Pentagon waste, it's time to shut down the missile defense program.

Now the truth is clear: the reason Bu$h wants to spend $100 billion on Star Wars is NOT to defend America from nuclear attack, but simply to make Bu$h's defense backers richer. This weekend, Bu$h sent word to China that he wants their acquiescence in Star Wars so badly, that he didn't care if they simply built more missiles to overwhelm our system. Now Bu$h is trying to change his tune, but the truth is out: Bu$h is willing to put America in danger so he can enrich his friends. If this isn't treason, what is?

"Missiles targeted at US cities and intercepted by President Bush's proposed missile defence shield could fall on Europe, Canada or middle America instead, arms researchers warn. Bush's missile defence plan includes a system to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) just minutes after launch, while their rocket boosters are still burning. This 'boost-phase interception' should be easier than targeting missiles in mid-flight because tracking a flaming rocket is easier than homing in on a relatively cool and easily disguised warhead sailing high above the atmosphere, experts say. But destroying only the booster could leave the warhead zinging across the sky, says Ted Postol, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology... This means that a nuclear missile fired at the US from North Korea could explode over Alaska or Canada, while one fired from Iraq might strike Britain or mainland Europe." One more reason why Tony Blair should reject Bush's star wars scheme.

Bush wants to break the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty so he can proceed with his massive star wars giveaway to his big defense contractor cronies. But where does Bush get the legal authority to break a treaty? Until 1978, breaking a treaty required an act of Congress. Will Congress - including conservative Republicans - insist that Congressional approval is still required?

According to MIT Research Fellow Geoffrey Forden, "There is a Web site in Russia that the U.S. government claims contains classified information. You can read it, but if you think about what you read there and conclude that the current U.S. national missile defense plans are bound to fail, the government will try to stop you. That is exactly what is happening to Theodore Postol, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Defense Department doesn't like what Prof. Postol has been saying about national missile defense: that it will not protect our country even from primitive incoming missiles. To stop him from saying these things, it has stamped 'SECRET' on letters he sent to then-President Bill Clinton and now to Congress." We demand a Senate investigation of the suppression of star wars critics!

Despite the end of the Cold War, the Pentagon stole $4.5 BILLION of OUR TAX DOLLARS to "upgrade" the guidance systems on Minuteman III Missiles. What did we get for our money? Failure to hit the target in five out of five tests. If this was an inner-city school, the Bushies would be demanding that it be permanently shut down. Why do we tolerate such monumental waste by the Pentagon? How can we possibly believe they can build a "missile defense" system? Why don't we demand that these funds be spent on education - or on tax rebates for working families?

Would you spend $100 on a burglar alarm system guaranteed to work just 90% of the time? Of course not - it's that one out of 10 case that can kill you! But America is expected to pour $100 billion into the equivalent of a global "burglar alarm system" that, as it stands only works 50% of the time, and then, only when a tracking light is put on the mock "enemy" missile so the system can locate it. But even with this help, the anti-missile system is unreliable. Says Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, "It is still not totally comfortable for me to say that we can make the hit-to-kill technology work consistently, even in that simple scenario."

"In their campaign to sell a missile defense system to the American public and a skeptical world community, President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon have engaged in a disturbing pattern of deception. The dangers posed by breaking international treaties or igniting a new arms race in space -- not to mention the cost or the effectiveness of these new weapons systems -- require a thorough and forthright debate. Yet so far, there is growing evidence that the Bush administration is not presenting the full picture to the American people." So writes a hard-hitting editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle

All of the big tax cut champions of the radical right are uniting around the biggest boondoggle in history - Son of Star Wars. These utter morons - David Keene, Frank Gaffney, Grover Norquist, Charles Jarvis, Daniel Graham, and Phyllis Schlafly - are led by the formidable intellect of Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeffrey Baxter. Baxter believes we need a missile defense because "people in North Korea, Libya, Iraq and Iran ... don't sit around and watch 'Seinfeld' and eat Milky Way candy bars all day. They have a different concept, a different culture and a different way of looking at things." Now we know the truth - Beavis and Butthead are running the conservative movement. Like wow, man - let me give you every spare billion that I have!

Bush has called in not one or two, but over a DOZEN rightwing/corporate front groups to try to give his ridiculous missile defense scheme an air of support. Calling themselves the Missile Defense Coalition, these deceitful lobbyists hide their true stripes behind "All-American," solid-sounding names like the Heritage Foundation, the Americans for Tax Reform (and how, may we ask, does a $100-billion boondoggle advance tax reform?), the American Conservative Union, Eagle Forum, Freedom Alliance, American Renewal, etc. Sounds like they ought to be waving flags with mouths full of mom's apple pie, right? Wrong! They're all mouthpieces for the defense contract fat cats and/or 1950s political dinosaurs like Cheney who imagine there's a commie under every Bush. This press release says they're meeting at the Senate Swamp...sounds appropriate for a group mired in political muck and the dinosaurs they represent.

Defense officials have now admitted that the only reason the dummy warhead was successfully destroyed during the July 14 test of "Star Wars" missile defense weaponry was because a beacon on the target signaled its position throughout most of its flight! In other words, this was a bogus test, rigged to insure its success because Bush knew that without cheating, the test had a better than 50/50 chance of failing. Defense officials say the beacon wasn't REALLY cheating. But how many enemy missiles do you suppose come equipped with electronic beacons for the convenience of those wishing to shoot them down! We think Bush needed a successful test not to sell the system, but as a justification for the fact that he has ALREADY started deploying it without Congressional consent. For weeks before the test, components for the system were already being shipped out and are now being set up at sites in the South Pacific. We need the military to defend us, allright - from Bush!

"I once sat on a plane in front of two drunk arms traders, on a flight from Dallas to Washington DC. They’d sold helicopters to both sides during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. When the helicopters got shot down, the countries bought more, then more again, so the arms traders made more money each round. They laughed wildly about the story, considering it a perfect deal. This incident came to mind when I heard the Bush administration talk of kindly sharing their proposed national missile defense system with their allies. Why not? The more countries, the more orders. And the more benefits to those truly protected and benefited by this project - the weapons producers who’ve spent over $40 million in the past two years on campaign contributions and lobbying." So writes Paul Loeb in the Christian Science Monitor.

Since when does a US President have the right to push ahead on a $100 billion military scheme and scrap an international treaty without the people's consent - without even Congressional consent? Well, this little dictator figures he's going to do whatever he damn pleases. He only pretends to "negotiate" (we bet he snickers all the way home after every session). It may interest the American public to know that, according to our indefatigable inside sources, for some weeks now, Bush has authorized the shipping of components for the deployment of the missile shield out of Portland, Oregon. The stuff has been crated and shipped out on a regular basis. Seems NO ONE was told about that little bit of mobilization. So, when you declare war, Shrub, looks like we can assume we'll be the last to know.

In his latest statements, Bush says he's "allowing" the Russian and European leaders "ample time" to "get used to" his decision to scrap the 30-year-old ABM. He also adds arrogantly that "I've told President Putin that time matters, that I want to reach an accord sooner than later." In fact, Bush is now speaking for everyone in his statements: "WE'LL move beyond [the ABM] if need be," he declared. We find it hard to believe that Putin is allowing himself to be bossed around by a belligerent little bantam like Bush - but Putin is now under tremendous pressure at home for "surrendering" to Bush.

The Bush propaganda machine reported that the much-publicized missile defense test was major success. But as with all Bush lies, eventually the facts come out. The LA Times reports that the $100 million state-of-the-art radar system that is designed to assess whether the "kill vehicle" hits the incoming missile was a total failure - it reported a miss. This is crucial - if the military doesn't know whether the missile has been intercepted, they will have to send more interceptors. It appears that the flaw exposed last year by missile defense expert Theodore Postol remains unchanged (http://commondreams.org/headlines/051800-01.htm). And this was a test with only 1 incoming missile and no decoys! Missile defense is nothing more than a massive boondoggle for the defense industry and should be terminated immediately.

Just a little over a year ago, an expert in national security and antimissile system, Theodore A. Postol, found evidence of a serious flaw in the Star Wars scheme. Even worse, he found evidence of a high-level, elaborate hoax to cover up this flaw in order to keep the defense bucks pouring into contractors pockets. The flaw: the system is unable to distinquish between real incoming weapons and decoys. This failing, according to an assessment released a few months ago, has NOT been corrected. The coverup, said Postol, was "like rolling a pair of dice and throwing away all outcomes that did not give snake eyes." Hmm...who else do we know that keeps cutting the same deck of cards, determined to draw the one he wants? So - you do the math (statistics, in this case). What do you think the odds are that Shrub and cronies have cooked up another elaborate hoax?

Did you ever see the movie "Wag the Dog?" The fictional president decides to boost his sagging image by staging a completely phony "war," complete with bogus news footage. Well, Bush's strangely eager insistence on tonight's missile launch, despite dismal odds of success, brings that film to mind. If the test succeeds, Bush will use this to justify a more tests, and ultimately the whole outrageous $100-billion enchilada. So, how are we, the public - already treated to rigged elections and courts in this regime - supposed to know if a "successful test" is for real? Afterall, this event is taking place far from any possible eye witness over a remote section of the Pacific. We call on anyone (scientists, students, amateur astronomers) with access to satellite data or telescope networks to monitor the sky over the target section of the Pacific for the missile. In fact, we think setting up a "watchdog" network for future tests may be just what we need to keep the game balanced!

Bush now has his missile defense scheme on a "fast track" (a purely corporate term that means to ram something down everyone's throat before they can think twice and/or act). It seems the more the American public and our global neighbors protest, the faster Bush wants to track this ridiculous and dangerous scam. The test is scheduled for this weekend at 10:00 pm on Saturday night, a time when most news outfits are on idle until Monday -guess Bush thinks we'll just all forget about it by Monday! Even the general in charge of the scheme gives the test just a 50/50 chance of hitting its target. But - while millions of Americans do without healthcare, Shrub now plans to spend $100 million PER MONTH on tests of an unwanted, unsound scheme that will benefit only his defense contractor pals

Bush's first scheme was to turn ANWR, the jewel of the state's wildlands into a giant oil operation. Now, as that seems increasingly less likely, he has decided to earmark Fort Greely as a new missile defense test facility - you know, as in a place to make things go BOOM!

One year ago this week, 50 - that's right FIFTY - Nobel laureates sent a letter to President Clinton urging him NOT to deploy the missile defense system. The realities about the system have NOT changed in a year, nor are they bloody likely to. The only thing that has changed: We now have a hypocritcal, deceitful megalomaniac in the White House who claims to require "sound science" for his decision, but does not feel 50 Nobel laureates is sound enough. He does not care what science thinks, what the American people think, what the world thinks. He only cares what a handful of greedy defense contractors and a few generals with egotistical fantasies think. You want to know where Shrub is coming from? Find a copy of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" and listen carefully. This is our dark future.

Shrub wants to "fast track" his missile defense scheme - as if it were some slick corporate deal to pick up a new fast food franchise. This is OUR money, OUR country, OUR future! What the hell right does this creep have to fast track anything except his dry cleaning? Meanwhile, outraged Europeans are circulating "Wanted Posters" with Shrubs ugly mug on them with the caption: "George W. Bush: Wanted for Crimes Against Humanity and the Planet." I think it's time to stop this loser in his tracks before this caption becomes a full-blown reality. Sign our Declaration of Independence and let's start taking REAL ACTION to remove this man from office before it's too late.

We've joked about Bush's Star Wars scam being a glorified computer war game. But now we learn that the entire validity of the scheme - all $60 billion of it - really IS based on the results of computer war game simulations played out in some back room of the Pentagon by a bunch of mostly American military guys. They're having a lot of fun and now Bush wants to play. By the way - one of Bush's biggest rationales for wanting to go back to testing LIVE nuclear weapons and thereby breaking the Comprehensive Testing Ban? Because he says the computer simulations used to test the weapons at present can't be trusted!

The world wants no part of the missile shield, even those, like Russia, we traditionally tagged as "bullies." But Shrub is determined to have a big expensive toy in the sky. He reminds us of a spoiled five-year-old turned loose in a Toys R Us, running up and down the aisles grabbing things off the shelf without regard to the cost or appropriateness of the "toy." His latest "grab"? He wants to greatly expand the number and kinds of nuclear testing done and has no problem spending billions - probably all of next decade's social security and medicare funds - to see things go BOOM! Ballistic Missile Defense groupie Lt. Col. Rick Lehner says the testing "is going to be structured and disciplined." Sure, if you ignore the basic irresponsibility of the scheme and totally undisciplined waste of cash.

During meetings with France's Jacques Chirac, Russia's Vladimir Putin proposed reducing the strategic (long-range) nuclear arsenals of Russia (now 6,000) and the US (now 7,000) to 1,500 each. Russia also wants to establish formal talks on strategic stability and nuclear arms cuts among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Russia, the US, France, Britain, and China. Putin and Chirac signed a joint declaration - which went unreported in the US media - opposing Bush's missile defense system and recommending that the present system of strategic stability (i.e. the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the thirty or so nuclear anti-proliferation and arms control agreements now in effect) be maintained. Hey Bush - you promised to be a leader. So how come Putin is eating your lunch?

Britain's Menwith Hill is a key outpost of Bush's Missile Defense scheme. But 120 British activists - many dressed as missiles - proved how easy it would be to invade and sabotage the system. Said one activist, "This is easier than getting into a public library. Call this security? This is a laugh."

The Bush administration, indifferent as ever to anything but its own grandiose schemes, has already earmarked a hilltop in England as a site for an early warning monitoring station for its hated anti-missile defense system. But UK activists are not taking this affront passively. On July 2, protestors chained themselves to buildings at the British spy base on Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire. These are tenacious folks! Every time the police removed some of them, others would infiltrate once more! Says protestor spokeswoman Louise Edge: "We're delighted with the way the protest has gone. We have met our aim in extending our protest into American Independence Day and we have sent a clear message to George W Bush that we do not want this dangerous Star Wars system." Rock on, Louise!

You can dismiss Shrub as dumb, in over his head, or a dysfunctional "dry drunk." But no one can dismiss the danger he is exposing the Earth and all its inhabitants to with his stances on Kyoto and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. He has now pushed the envelope on his macho posturing to the point where Russia, determined to push back, is now testing old missiles. Thus the peace men (better than Bush) spent years to weave is being pulled apart by a pathetic man more terrified of the disapproval of his father and his father's cronies than he is of irreparable global damage. In any case, if Bush thinks Putin will be the first to blink, he's stupider than any of us dared dream.

"Vladimir Putin's threat to expand Russia's long-range nuclear weapons capability, after a decade of hard-won, negotiated reductions, is a stark and timely reminder of the dangers inherent in US missile defence plans...Like many Europeans, Mr Putin does not buy the basic US argument that elaborate missile defence of the [son of 'Star Wars'] type envisaged is required to counter the menace posed by 'rogue states'...Mr Putin suggests this could destroy the successful Start treaty process reducing stockpiles of offensive nuclear weapons and undermine other such pacts; US claims to the contrary are unconvincing. Mr Putin also warns that such a development will provoke an international arms race, sucking in countries such as China; the US has yet to show he is wrong…And when the Russian president points to possible collateral damage, such as an end to collaboration on preventing accidental launches, Europeans in the firing line surely know he is right."

"Senate Democrats sharply questioned Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld today about the high cost and unproven effectiveness of a national missile defense system, and they raised deep concerns about the administration's threats to withdraw from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty if the Russians refused to amend it. " Rumsfeld waxed feverishly, "This presents a very different challenge from that of the cold war. Even in the old Soviet Union, the secretary general of the Communist Party, dictator though he was, had a Politburo to provide some checks and balances that might have kept him from using those weapons at his whim. What checks and balances are there on Saddam Hussein or Kim Jong Il?" Too bad Bush Sr. covertly armed and financed Hussein's military right up to the Kuwaiti invasion (enter 'iraqgate' in our .Compass search engine) . Or that big-time Bush backer Reverend Moon has been funneling millions to Kim Jong II and other North Korean military leaders (enter 'moon').

When first briefed as to the quantity of weapons in stock in the U.S. arsenal, our clueless nonleader was reported by a White House insider as marveling "I had no idea we had so many weapons...What do we need them for?" National security veteran Richard Perle says there are so many weapons (including 5,400 warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles, 1,750 nuclear bombs, 1,670 tactical nuclear weapons and 10,000 other assorted warheads), that we will never use them. No doubt to ease poor little Shrubmeister's acute disappointment at this news, Rummy promised him a brand new missile shield he COULD play with!

Although Bush claims his positions on global warming, the missile shield, and other issues are based on 'sound science,' it is doubtful whether science - or anything sound - underlies his fantasy-filled policies. "It would be nice not to have to shell out money for emissions controls. It would be nice to have a magic shield against all nuclear threats...But we can't confuse wants with facts. As Richard Feynman said, 'Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself.' The dangers of ignoring its messages are greater than merely making politicians look foolish." So write the editors of "Scientific American."

Incoming Senate Armed Services chair Carl Levin (D-MI) has an idea that's just way too radical for Republicans: before we spend $100 billion on a missile defense system, we should make sure it works. So far, missile defense tests have failed 3 out of 3 times. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld couldn't care less: "'They need not be 100 percent perfect,' Mr. Rumsfeld said, because a potential adversary would still be deterred by the uncertainty of whether its missile could slip past the shield. This rationale has been dubbed the 'scarecrow' defense. 'But I don't think a system that doesn't work scares anybody,' Mr. Levin said. A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig R. Quigley, said today that 'there is not a weapons system out there that is 100 percent effective.'" Yeah, but how about 0 percent? Is this willful arrogance and stupidity the prevailing attitude at the Pentagon? We demand an investigation!

The Nuclear Disarmament Partnership, a joint effort of Peace Action, Peace Links, Physicians for Social Responsibility, 20/20 Vision and Women's Action for New Directions in conjunction with Project Abolition invite you to come to Washington DC to tell policy makers to stop "Star Wars" National Missile Defense, and to instead pursue nuclear disarmament measures leading to the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.

"The United States is preparing to offer Moscow military aid, joint anti-missile exercises and arms purchases to earn Russia's cooperation in scrapping the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty…The Bush administration officials told the newspaper the proposals are likely to include an offer to buy Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missiles that could be integrated into a defensive shield over Russia and Europe." Never mind that most scientific experts say such a defense shield won't work. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld want to kill the ABM treaty so that a new set of enemies can fuel global paranoia in a new Cold War. It's all for the sake of justifying federal payoffs to their defense industry backers. "White House officials also told the Times that over time, they might also be willing to share some technology with Beijing." Can you imagine the Media uproar if Clinton had proposed such technology sharing? Then again, the Cox Report showed that Chinagate happened during the Reagan-Bush years.

When Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) - and Representatives from other states that rely on military contracts to keep their shipyards going - helped get Bush elected, they figured they'd be taken care of. As it turns out, the missile defense plan Bush Rogers wants will divert money away from traditional contracts and into highly specialized "boutique" production. In Maine, without work for Bath Iron Works or the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, the state's economy would be cut off at the knees. So we'll have a shield that probably won't work, in exchange for the certain destruction of regional economies.

Tuesday the Senate confirmed (53-47) John Bolton as Undersecretary of the State for Arms Control and International Security. Like almost every Bush nomination, Bolton is the worst possible choice for this position. Before the vote Byron Dorgan (D-ND) warned: "The world is going to see -- if the Senate confirms nomination -- Mr. Bolton's appointment as another of the president's hard line on positions and a unilateralist policy: Abandon ABM, let's get rid of the ABM treaty or ignore it, build a destabilizing national missile defense system, abandon the Kyoto, suspend missile talks with North Korea, oppose the international criminal court and the international land mine convention." Bolton has advocated for diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, so his appointment only exacerbates tensions with China. As head of a GOP organization, he accepted contributions from Taiwan. Moreover, Bolton allegedly helped cover-up Iran-Contra while under Ed Meese at the Justice Dept.

30 years after the historic Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty was signed, G.W. "Shady" Bush sneaked in the back door of the White House and, with no honest achievements to his name, no experience (or even knowledge!) of international affairs, announced that the ABM treaty is no longer appropriate to the modern world and he now plans to pursue his dream of a missile defense system. The common response around the world: Outrage that the fragile structures and trust of the nuclear stand-off, so long and difficult in the making, have just been trashed by a man with neither the intellect nor humility for his job. Demand this dangerous fraud's resignation immediately - call, write, e-mail or fax Washington every day until he is gone!

"A senior adviser to President [sic] Bush has attacked British Prime Minister Tony Blair 's 'wishy-washy' attitude to American plans for a missile defense shield…Richard Perle, a consultant to Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary, said Blair was 'dodging the issue' by refusing unambiguously to back the project, the Sunday Telegraph said. " Nations around the world "fear [that the plan] could spark a new arms race between former Cold War foes," especially since it would "effectively [end] the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with the former Soviet Union." Known as the 'Prince Of Darkness', Richard Perle was Assistant Defense Secretary under Caspar Weinberger, a key Iran-Contra figure. Last Summer Perle advised Israel to walk away from the Camp David Peace Talks held by Clinton, if the Jerusalem question was not resolved. This was a perhaps treasonous action by a private citizen (and Bush adviser), that recalled how Nixon and Anna Chennault sabotaged the '68 Paris Peace Talks.

Bush has made a big impression on scientists with his energy and defense policies. So big, in fact that it can only be done full justice by a weekly disaster report! This week's report in the American Physical Society (an outfit populated by real live scientists, not Bush "designer scientist" versions) points out that for a mere $100 billion, we now have in the works a high-tech missile defense system capable of hitting one out of every three targets. Such a deal! That means in the first strike New York and D.C. might get wiped off the map, but hey! Boston might survive! Also, is a shakedown due soon at NASA?

Last July, when the Federation of American Scientists wrote to President Bill Clinton pleading with him not to deploy the antiballistic missile system and presenting their case against it, he listened. Unlike the dull-witted man who now holds office and substitutes smirks and nicknames for insight and substance, Clinton recognized the complexity, gravity, and consequences of the NMD. Grow up, Shrub - this is not a John Wayne movie in which the two-dimensional characters all play their roles according to a grade C script and everyone goes home happy. This is real life - our lives - you are playing with.

Bill Clinton is ten times the man Bush is. On September 1, 2000, Clinton announced, "I simply cannot conclude with the information I have today that we have enough confidence in the technology, and the operational effectiveness of the entire Nuclear Missile Defense System to move forward to deployment." The scientific, political, environmental, and socioeconomic reasons against development of the system are overwhleming, the potential consequences huge and uniformly negative. Yet here we are, being forced to march double-time behind one man - illegally occupying the White House - who refuses to listen to reason, let alone "sound science," as he leads us backward into an unsafe, unclean world filled with paranoia and ignorance.

Senate Democratic leaders, including Tom Daschle (D-SD), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Joe Biden (D-DE), pounded Shrub's Missile Defense proposal. "A missile defense system that undermines our nation politically, economically and strategically — without providing any real security — is no defense at all," said Daschle. Raising the possibility that Russia might stop dismantling its nuclear arsenal, Levin said, "I have great concerns about a unilateral decision, because I believe that it could risk a second cold war — Cold War II, I call it."

"In an interview and in a letter to the Defense Department, [Sen. Tom] Harkin [D-IA] accused the space systems unit of Lockheed Martin Corp. of using 'an apparent accounting trick' in an attempt to gouge taxpayers of perhaps $100 million. He cited three confidential reports done by Pentagon auditors. He says they found that the unit's accounting methods on the sale of facilities in California's Silicon Valley and elsewhere were 'flawed, unreasonable, and inequitable to the government'...Harkin worries that the case is not unique, that other contractors may be attempting to use the same scheme." A big time Bush contributor, Lockheed is the nation's largest defense contractor. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld hope to reward Lockheed with contracts for their ludicrous NMD ("Son of Star Wars") system.

"Bush's nominee to head up US arms control policies came under sharp questioning yesterday from Democratic senators who challenged his track record of attacking past arms treaties, the United Nations, and efforts to ease the standoff on the Korean peninsula." John Bolton, a veteran of the Reagan and Bush administrations who currently works for the right wing American Enterprise Institute, has made some outrageous remarks in the past. But like John Ashcroft, Bolton appears to have made a "confirmation conversion" as Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) aptly commented. At least Bolton has Jesse Helms undying love: "[Bolton is] the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon, for what the Bible describes as the final battle between good and evil in this world."

Way to go, W - now South Korea has joined with Russia in protesting your NMD plan. As a puppet to cold warriors like Rumsfeld and Cheney, you certainly are taking us back to the age of international paranoia. "A joint communique issued by President Kim Dae Jung with the visiting president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, declared that the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, which would be threatened by Washington's [NMD] project, was a 'cornerstone of strategic stability.' The treaty should be preserved and strengthened, the communique said."

Even though Bush's NMD plan will probably not work, Russia doesn't want to take that chance. President Putin is trying to engage NATO and the US to work on a joint plan to defend against rogue nations such as North Korea, whose leaders have been paid millions by Bush benefactor Reverend Moon. Never mind that the NMD shield will not defend against biological weapons and suitcase terrorism. Putin warns that if Bush does not welcome Russia as a a partner in peace, but instead treats Russia as a "dark force," it will lead to a new arms race.

"Today the US and Russia remain locked in a cold war confrontation with nearly 5,000 nuclear warheads on hair-trigger alert, ready to launch in less than 15 minutes. What little stability exists rests on a fragile framework of arms control agreements which gradually have cut the numbers in half from the peak of almost 25,000 strategic weapons in 1989. Talks already under way could reduce that total to as low as 3,000 if the Russian proposal for 1,500 for each side is accepted. This will not happen - cannot happen - if the foundation of all nuclear arms control agreements, the 1972 ABM treaty, is abrogated by the US. All constructive efforts to reduce weapons will end. Instability will return, not only between the US and Russia but in China, India and Pakistan." So says Rear Admiral (ret)Eugene Carroll Jr.

It was inevitable. The GOP is now using Nader's attacks on Gore and repackaging them for ads in battle ground states. Nader thinks he is being idealistic, but he is getting played for the fool. If he were even half fair, Mr. ethics would at least be going after Bush as much as he derides Gore. But Nader, in some ways, is just playing politics as usual. In his battle to be leader of the left, he has to knock Gore off first to get his 5% of the vote. Ralph, you have great ideas, but America does not elect philosopher kings and idealists. In the meantime, while you dwell on Mt. Olympus, us mortals will be left to live through another Republican middle ages, replete with Tom Delay, Clarence Thomas, and Jerry Falwell as social fixtures at the White House. Gag me with a spoon, Ralph. Get real.

Why are we still building "Star Wars"? Sadly, because both President Clinton and his hard right Republican adversaries have been playing politics with national defense. Ever since the “Gingrich revolution” of 1994, “new look” conservatives like Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) have been putting on a full court press to restore Ronald Reagan’s dream of an impenetrable shield that could render nuclear weapons “impotent and obsolete.”