A Gift To China From Bill Clinton

[dales]

China missile fear: U.S. vulnerable to nuclear-tipped submarine-launched missiles, Pentagon warns....


By Shaun Waterman


China maintains the fastest growing fleet of ballistic and cruise missiles on the planet, and soon will deploy a nuclear-tipped, submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States from Chinese waters, according to a new Pentagon report.


Beijing’s swelling missile arsenal includes a new submarine-launched JL-2 ballistic missile that will for the first time enable Chinese submarines to strike parts of the United States from China’s coastal waters, states the 2013 Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat Assessment, produced by the Department of Defense's National Air and Space Intelligence Center.

It adds that the number of Chinese ICBM nuclear warheads capable of reaching the United States “could expand to well over 100 within the next 15 years.”

Supporters of the U.S. military’s beleaguered missile defense plans seized on the assessment, saying it underscores the need to push ahead with the controversial programs, which are derided by critics as too expensive and ineffective.

“For too long the Obama administration has allowed our missile defense program to languish when they should have been working to prepare for these imminent threats,” Rep. Michael Turner, Ohio Republican and a member of the House Committee for Armed Services.[this weak sister is a disgrace to the office of POTUS]

The report also confirms the revelation, first reported by The Washington Times, that North Korea last year deployed a new, road-mobile inter-continental ballistic missile, or ICBM — the Hwasong-13. The authors of the report note that the missile has not been flight-tested, and say the number of its stages, its fuel and its range are unknown.

“North Korea has an ambitious ballistic missile development program and has exported missiles and missile technology to other countries, including Iran and Pakistan,” says the assessment, which was released this week.

The report repeats the assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran could develop and test an ICBM capable of reaching the United States as early as 2015.

“Iran has ambitious ballistic missile and space launch development programs and continues to attempt to increase the range, lethality, and accuracy of its ballistic missile force,” the assessment states.

The Department of Defense's National Air and Space Intelligence Center is based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... z2Ymx7ccN0
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

[Scooter]

Does it seem even remotely possible, that once the U.S. spends hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars on a missile shield, that no one is going to come along and build a smarter missile that makes the whole thing useless?

[rubato]

It has more to do with chinas need to think they are a big powerful country and for unthinking hysterics need to whip up fear than anything else.

ICBMs with nukes on them all have a return address and we have the means to retaliate with overwhelming force.

The real strategic situation is unchanged.


Yrs,
Rubato

[rubato]

Does it seem even remotely possible, that once the U.S. spends hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars on a missile shield, that no one is going to come along and build a smarter missile that makes the whole thing useless?

Bush the stupider deployed a missile defense system which had failed all tests unless the target missile had a homing beacon on it. After hundreds of billions cost. US diplomats have so far failed to get our enemies to agree to put homing beacons on their missiles.

Yrs,
Rubato

[Grim Reaper]

Just more fearmongering from people looking for a new enemy to fight ever since the cold war ended.

[dales]

Yeah, right.

[Grim Reaper]

The Chinese are the least likely to ever attack the US. They make too much money through trade to want to jeopardize that. North Korea just likes to bang the drum until they get food, and Iran isn't nearly as insane as North Korea.

Not to mention we have the ability to reach out and obliterate our enemies, the next threat isn't going to be from a country. It will be another terrorist attack that will evade all of the billions we've spent on security.

[dales]

Trojan Horse.

[Gob]

[dales]

Someone's getting fcuked.

[Crackpot]

Why would I want to look inside that guys head?

[Scooter]

Sorry to disappoint you, but the conspiracy theories weaved around Chinagate have nothing more to back them up now than they did 15 years ago. If anything, many actions that were spun to look nefarious were later repeated on a bigger scale under the Bush administration, so it's going to be much more difficult to claim that it's all part of some sinister plot to compromise U.S. security in favour of the Chinese.

And that Washington Times article, please...perhaps if they gave out Pulitzers for weaving together an assortment of what is already common knowledge along with some outright fabrications, in order to paint as ominous a picture as possible. Like, right from the outset:

China maintains the fastest growing fleet of ballistic and cruise missiles on the planet,...

And by growing their fleet at the fastest rate on the planet:

the number of Chinese ICBM nuclear warheads capable of reaching the United States “could expand to well over 100 within the next 15 years."

Oh my, 100 missiles. That does sound like a lot.

How many ICBMs does the U.S. have ready to deploy - 6000? 7000? Plus a few thousand more lying around just in case?

I'm pretty sure the Chinese are smart enough to have worked out that arithmetic before starting WWIII.

Beijing’s swelling missile arsenal includes a new submarine-launched JL-2 ballistic missile that will for the first time enable Chinese submarines to strike parts of the United States from China’s coastal waters

Well that is worrysome. Oh, wait. They can already hit U.S. targets from ICBM missile bases on the mainland. They can already hit U.S. targets from submarines at shorter than ICBM range. So the huge advantage of being able to fire an ICBM from a sub on the coast, rather than from a missile silo on land, is what, exactly?

Supporters of the U.S. military’s beleaguered missile defense plans seized on the assessment, saying it underscores the need to push ahead with the controversial programs...

“For too long the Obama administration has allowed our missile defense program to languish when they should have been working to prepare for these imminent threats,” Rep. Michael Turner, Ohio Republican and a member of the House Committee for Armed Services.

Apparently he didn't get the memo. Number of ground interceptors being increased by 50%. Additional radar in Japan. And there was another test just last week. Just how quickly do you imagine this sort of thing can be build?

The report also confirms the revelation, first reported by The Washington Times, that North Korea last year deployed a new, road-mobile inter-continental ballistic missile, or ICBM — the Hwasong-13. The authors of the report note that the missile has not been flight-tested, and say the number of its stages, its fuel and its range are unknown.

How does one deploy a missile that hasn't been tested or, as security analysts believe, hasn't even been built yet, since the ones they paraded around last year were obviously mock ups.

“North Korea has an ambitious ballistic missile development program and has exported missiles and missile technology to other countries, including Iran and Pakistan,” says the assessment, which was released this week.

And how many decades have we known that to be happening? Has the Times only now discovered this?

The report repeats the assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran could develop and test an ICBM capable of reaching the United States as early as 2015.

How many years now have we been told that it's only a couple of years away?

[dales]

At least I'll be dead.