Does Chirac's slip reflect France's real position on a nuclear Iran?

[Ned]

Try this link

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37036

"NORTHROP Grumman has opened a factory for high energy laser weapons.
According to Information Week, the outfit's grand plan is to build three 100-kilowatt lasers by 2008 which could be used to shoot down rockets, artillery and mortar from ground, air or ships.

The new factory is in Redondo Beach, California and a spokesNorthrop is not saying how much it set the company back.

Apparently the military is excited because lasers require only electricity to operate and can keep firing at targets indefinitely. This principle of firing lots of bullets at a single target in the vague hope that one of them might hit something has been the principle behind US military thinking since the invention of the six gun.

Northrop's main aim is to make the lasers cheap enough for the military to actually want to buy them. Apparently the outfit has been in talks with the Israeli government on a system called Skyguard that would use lasers to shield airport and other installations from rockets, ballistic missiles and other threats. It will cost about $25-30 million for each airport."

[Ned]

""Powerful military lasers, with their speed-of-light targeting capabilities and cost-effective operation, have the potential to transform the way we equip our armed forces defending our country abroad and protecting it at home against terrorist threats," Alexis Livanos, president of Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector, said in a statement."

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=RLVOSABYHRF0QQSNDLRCKHSCJUNN2JVN?artic leID=196901375

[Kuciwalker]

Powerful military lasers, with their speed-of-light targeting capabilities

WTF does that mean?

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

Powerful military lasers, with their speed-of-light targeting capabilities

WTF does that mean?

That is an idiot that doesn't know what he is talking about.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
It will take Iran longer to get a large arsenal than to get one bomb, which gives us that much more time for peaceful approaches like sanctions to work.

That contradicts every evidence that when you have done a thing one time, it's easier to do it multiple times at a faster rate.

Making a nuke isn't that complicated, it's aquiring the nessecary material that is crucial. When the production of this is up and running, the bombs are just rolling out of the factory.

[Ned]

But, these new laser weapons are going to render missle delivery systems obsolete.

[Kuciwalker]

I doubt that.

[Ramo]

The key, of course, is diplomacy. Which Cheney and co. have beeng consistently sabatoging. Khatami was ready to put everything on the table - nukes, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iraq, whathaveyou in 2003, and we rejected them out of hand. Criminal acts of negligence... Maybe Rice can do something in a political climate where Cheney's more marginalized, but we of course have a problem on the other end...

[Lawrence of Arabia]

why would iran nuke israel? some of islams holiest sites are there.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Ned
But, these new laser weapons are going to render missle delivery systems obsolete.

Ned, their hitting capability may be at the speed of light, but the targetting will never be.

[Ramo]

They wouldn't, and not just for that reason. The main risk would be proliferation.

[Ramo]

But, these new laser weapons are going to render missle delivery systems obsolete.

Yes. Who am I to doubt a poorly written press release by a defense company?

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
why would iran nuke israel? some of islams holiest sites are there.

They would probably avoid nuking jerusalem, but Tel Aviv etc doesn't really count as muslim shrines.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

isn't tel aviv only 35 miles from jerusalem? that would be in radiation range.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

then theres also the fact that the radiation cloud would go all over syria and jordan, and egypte and i dont think they would be too happy about that. also, they are majority muslim countries. a lot of them would die too.