I've written a couple of posts lately critical of the Bush space defence plan and our senate's endorsement of it. Put simply, it struck me that this programme was going to lead to the deployment of offensive weapons in space and that, in turn, might trigger a very dangerous arms race.
Liberal Senator Colin Kenny dismisses doubters. He wants Canada to waste no further time in jumping aboard Washington's space defence bandwagon. Maybe it's time Kenny began paying attention to the signs that he's wrong, dead wrong.
The Washington Post reports that Bush has just signed a new National Space Policy that, "rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone hostile to U.S. interests."
"Hostile to U.S. interests," obviously means any other nation that might want to militarize space themselves, even if only defensively.
According to the Washington Post story:
"Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power," the policy asserts in its introduction.
"National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said in written comments that an update was needed to "reflect the fact that space has become an even more important component of U.S. economic, national and homeland security." The military has become increasingly dependent on satellite communication and navigation, as have providers of cellphones, personal navigation devices and even ATMs."
"Theresa Hitchens, director of the nonpartisan Center for Defense Information in Washington, said that the new policy "kicks the door a little more open to a space-war fighting strategy" and has a "very unilateral tone to it."
"The administration official strongly disagreed with that characterization, saying the policy encourages international diplomacy and cooperation. But he said the document also makes clear the U.S. position: that no new arms-control agreements are needed because there is no space arms race."
There is no space arms race because Washington believes it can go ahead and keep every other nation, by force if necessary, from responding in kind to what it is doing. Amerika Uber Alles.
By reserving to itself the right to decide who can and cannot have a presence in space and for what purposes, Washington is asserting sovereignty over space itself. America knows that, when you assert sovereignty, you have to develop and deploy the means to enforce that claim.
Senator Kenny, wake up. It's time you pulled your head out of .... the sand.
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