By John E. Carey
For the Washington Times

The U.S. Navy missile streaked to an altitude of 133 nautical miles and slammed into the fuel tank of a dying spy satellite traveling at 17,000 miles per hour with 1,000 pounds of deadly hydrazine fuel aboard.

Various sensors on land, sea and in space noted the explosion. Initial reports said the satellite had been turned into what military analyst John Pike called “gravel.”

The ever cautious U.S. military said we needed to take a deep breath and await complete computer analysis.

The international news media erupted into an explanation of altitude, velocity, weight, payload, target angle and other details of the event.

But I could only think of one man: Ronald Reagan.
On March 23, 1983, President Reagan announced from the Oval Office, “I’ve reached a decision which offers a new hope for our children in the 21st century.” He explained his vision — and his defense budget’s inclusion — of the first funds to go toward this nation’s missile defense effort.

Liberals, and most of the media, derided the president’s project as “star wars.” Since 1983, America’s Missile Defense effort has become a multinational, multi-system effort: it has reached into space and it has come down to earth and the sea.

Before President Reagan’s “new hope” the national military strategy of the United States and the Soviet Union contained an unwavering commitment to “Mutually Assured Destruction.”

Mutually Assured Destruction meant that just one American or Soviet nuclear weapon-armed intercontinental ballistic missile headed toward the other’s adversary would result in a violent and unstoppable response of hundreds and perhaps thousands of nuclear warheads.

Millions would die in the exchange. The strategy became know as “MAD.”

Ronald Reagan, when briefed on emerging U.S. technology for missiles, sensors, lasers and other efforts, saw the future. He saw a new hope for our children and he committed himself — and his nation — to achieving that vision.

Ronald Reagan is gone. Many of the initial advisors, technologists and engineers have passed away. In congress, the issue of missile defense has been argued every year – and usually funding has been less than requested by the Pentagon.

Still, countless hundreds of thousands of people: engineers, technologists, scientists, soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have continued the project, largely without complaint – continued to pursue President Reagan’s new hope and vision.

The U.S. Navy missile that slammed into the dead satellite, USA 193, was a product of that decades long effort. The modifications to the ship that launched that missile and the training absorbed by those wonderful sailors – products of an American youth criticized by their elders for their frivolous and careless ways — that carried out this mission all grew from President Ronald Reagan’s vision.

Today, the Soviet Union no longer exists. But the threat posed by missile launched weapons of mass destruction; nuclear, chemical and biological weapons; clearly still exists. Russia still has a robust nuclear and missile arsenal. Add to that China. North Korea has demonstrated advancing missile and nuclear weapon technology. Pakistan and India have nuclear arsenals and long-range missiles. Iran has long-range missiles and the United Nations argues over how far they have advanced their nuclear weapon efforts. And terrorists have boasted that they will have nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction that can soon wipe out Israel and threaten Europe and the United States.

Missile defense, the vision of Ronald Reagan and source of America’s ability to destroy a potentially dangerous satellite on February 20, 2008, remains viable, important and necessary.

We haven’t heard much about missile defense or other defense and international efforts in the current presidential campaigns. We hear a lot about the economy, health care and other domestic issues.

No domestic programs count unless the nation can be defended.

We haven’t heard much about missile defense or other defense and international efforts in the current presidential campaigns but given the current state of affairs in the world: maybe we should.

John E. Carey is a former senior military officer who served in President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) and is president of International Defense Consultants, Inc

John E. Carey and Muhammed Khurshid provide invaluable insight into the tribal areas, and the general unrest in Pakistan.

The insurgents are an uncompromising lot. Besides a loose commitment to the enforcement of Sharia, they have no precise goals, and often it appears they are waging war on Pakistan’s state apparatus because there is no other way in which they can make themselves felt. They are well armed, the mountainous terrain and the porous border with Afghanistan help them, their supply lines are intact, and that is the reason why they have shown extraordinary resilience and tenacity.

In a nutshell, their ability to fight on is independent of the government’s constitutional nostrums. On the other hand, the military-led government will now be hard put to show results and convince the world and the Pakistani people that the enforcement of emergency had paid dividends and helped it make gains against the militants. This appears doubtful.

By coming down hard on the liberal elements in society, the military has denied itself a source of strength in the war on the religious extremists. The round-up of politicians, leading lawyers and human rights activists will cast the regime in a negative image, and the world would not be wrong in coming to the conclusion that the generals had used the war on terror as a ploy to strengthen their stranglehold over the country. Because of the gravity of the situation we demand that the emergency be lifted at the earliest, the government should give a deadline within which the purposes for which the emergency was proclaimed will be achieved, that notwithstanding the curbs on the media, political activity will not be curtailed, and the general election will be held as originally planned — in January next.

Only a government deriving a popular mandate can pull Pakistan out of the bog and maintain its unity and integrity.

Read more at Peace and Freedom II

Updated and Bumped
Momentum is building. Google hits 1,680,000 entries for the phrase “the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history.” Hillary Rodham Clinton is now at the top of the heap. Keep it going folks!
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“the+greatest+campaign+finance+scandal+in+American+history”

“the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history”

Now that this phrase has been published by a respected member of the MSM, and, as such, is now in the LexusNexis search database, it seems appropriate to associate that phrase with the person to whom it refers: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I received a ping from FReeper “Spirit of Allegiance” this morning which pointed to an article which featured our pal, “Dougfromupland.”

The article was in the San Francisco Chronicle’s on line edition. Here is the introductory paragraph of the article about “the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history.”

In his other life, Douglas Cogan, 59, is a San Bernardino County commercial real estate broker. But for years, the conservative Republican has spent thousands of hours painstakingly researching what he calls “the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history” by a woman he calls one of the most dangerous political figures the country has ever seen - Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Since it appears that Google has enabled “google-bombing” again, I thought it might be interesting to get the phrase, “the greatest campaign finance scandal in American history,” permanently associated with Hillary Rodham Clinton. That is the purpose of this post. And, if any of you bloggers out there want to join in, just copy+paste this post at your blog, or pass it along in the comments section of your favorite blogs. The more the merrier. I’m going to track-post it to Linkfests, and post it at FR and Hannity. I’ll also activate every tag I have ever used to associate it with this post. Heh.
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John E. Carey sends this wonderful essay from guest writer Kamala Sarup

America is a great country. This country has given million of people the right to live on its land. People from all over the world are coming to the U.S for hope, and this country has given them the opportunity to work hard and make their own destiny.

I have no words for just how impressed I am with America’s greatness. America has given me the chance to write many many articles and made me a very strong woman.

Now I believe, my work and writings and what I do for mankind is important.

Today I can proudly say that even in this crisis situation in the world, I promoted a positive image of the world. Born in a small village to a middle class family in Nepal, I went from village to village to get my schooling. I worked and studied very hard to make myself a success.

So, it is my duty to protect American values and freedom in writing those articles. This is the only way I can give something back to America, something that will be charged with respect and humanism.My Journey to AmericaThis is my feelings for American values. Everyday I feel like happy and going somewhere far away with my dreams and emotional memories.

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I got an email from John E. Carey the other night.

It was late. Real late.

I emailed him back and asked him what he was doing up so late.

He was polite enough not to ask me what the heck I was doing up so late. He just said, “There’s so much going on in the world, I can’t sleep.” Ain’t it the truth!

John’s Peace and Freedom blog network is my like my own personal window to Asia. I really appreciate his insight, and his writing is always top notch.

Lately, John has had some interesting things to say about the upcoming Beijing Olympics, or as he calls them, “The Fake Smile Olympics,” which is better, he surmises than “The Genocide Games.” Here is an excerpt from one of his more recent pieces:

On the 8th Month, the 8th day, at 8 PM and 8 minutes, 8 seconds, All China and much of the world marked the start of the pre-Olympic Year.

Eight is lucky, so the Chinese say.

But China may yet need to line up more “Lucky Eights” and other forms of magic to make it though this next year before that Olympic cauldron is lighted at the “Bird’s Nest.” That’s the nickname all of Beijing has given to a massive steel beam stadium that will host many Beijing Olympics 2008 events, including the opening and closing ceremonies.

But the stadium’s designer is a former slave of China’s criminal “system” of human abuse. Mr. Ai Weiwei couldn’t be surpassed as an angry dissident by an invention of a Hollywood team of fiction writers.

Mr. Ai, a disheveled and portly genius, as a teen followed his Dad into the Chinese version of the Gulag. His Dad’s crime? Why he was a poet that wrote the wrong poems.

“I spent five years with him at a labor camp where he cleaned toilets, but these stories become so catchy today,” Mr. Ai shrugged.

Take it from someone who has spent considerable time with human rights abuse victims of the “systems” of communist China and communist Vietnam: those victims never want to make a movie, write a book or tell their stories. They want the past forgotten.

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