The Bush White House staked its claim to space weapons years ago. That pesky United Nations, led by Russia and China, wants to ban such weapons. So, George Bush and his mouthpiece, Dana Perino, offered some babble about the challenges of verification.
The White House responded to the proposal on Tuesday afternoon, saying it opposed any treaty that sought “to prohibit or limit access to or use of space.” Dana M. Perino, the White House press secretary, said such a treaty would also be impossible to enforce. “Any object orbiting or transiting through space can be a weapon if that object is intentionally placed onto a collision course with another space object,” she said in an e-mail message. “This makes treaty verification impossible.”
Why are weapons treaties verifiable on earth but not in space? How many treaties do we have? What are the current methods for verification? It doesn't seem a stretch to apply our worldly experience to the heavens. So far two countries know how to intentionally place objects onto collision courses with other space objects, the U.S. and China. One wants a treaty ban, while the supposed peace loving democracy does not. Strange days, indeed...
The White House responded to the proposal on Tuesday afternoon, saying it opposed any treaty that sought “to prohibit or limit access to or use of space.” Dana M. Perino, the White House press secretary, said such a treaty would also be impossible to enforce. “Any object orbiting or transiting through space can be a weapon if that object is intentionally placed onto a collision course with another space object,” she said in an e-mail message. “This makes treaty verification impossible.”
Why are weapons treaties verifiable on earth but not in space? How many treaties do we have? What are the current methods for verification? It doesn't seem a stretch to apply our worldly experience to the heavens. So far two countries know how to intentionally place objects onto collision courses with other space objects, the U.S. and China. One wants a treaty ban, while the supposed peace loving democracy does not. Strange days, indeed...
