Debate Politics Forums - View Single Post - U.S., Czech missile deal prompts Moscow warning

rathi · 07-10-08, 12:11 PM

The Patriot system is hardly effective against long range missiles. In Gulf War 1, it couldn't even reliably shoot down Scuds. Updates to the system have made it effective against short range missiles, but the system has no proven effectiveness against a missile capable of reaching of Poland. Its not even known if it could stop current Shahb-3 missiles, with a more limited range.

There is absolutely no benefit to deploying the system right now. Iran doesn't have missiles capable of reaching beyond 1300 miles, and if they did, the patriots have good chance of being ineffective. Furthermore, what reason would Iran have to attack Poland or its neighbors? Its pretty obvious that Israel would be the first target for any Iranian weapons, not random countries Iran has no problem with. Overall, we are deploying a system to defend against weapons Iran doesn't have, in countries that Iran won't attack, with a system that might not work.

The system can't even touch Russian nuclear capability, but it still makes them very nervous. Rationally, Russia should just ignore such a minor detail and move. However, politics and people being what they are, putting weapons close to someone homeland tends to frighten them. If Russia put missile defense systems in Cuba, we'd respond the same way. The Cuban missile crisis started because of stuff like this, and anyone with sanity wants to prevent that from happening again. Risking the nation over something so useless is a bad idea.

07-10-08, 12:11 PM	#47 (permalink)
rathi Intellectual Barbarian Join Date: Oct 2006 Last Online: Today 03:31 PM Location: California Posts: 1,971 Thanks: 26 Thanked 514 Times in 325 Posts Lean: Independent Gender: Current Mood:	Re: Har har har! Russia threatens war. The Patriot system is hardly effective against long range missiles. In Gulf War 1, it couldn't even reliably shoot down Scuds. Updates to the system have made it effective against short range missiles, but the system has no proven effectiveness against a missile capable of reaching of Poland. Its not even known if it could stop current Shahb-3 missiles, with a more limited range. There is absolutely no benefit to deploying the system right now. Iran doesn't have missiles capable of reaching beyond 1300 miles, and if they did, the patriots have good chance of being ineffective. Furthermore, what reason would Iran have to attack Poland or its neighbors? Its pretty obvious that Israel would be the first target for any Iranian weapons, not random countries Iran has no problem with. Overall, we are deploying a system to defend against weapons Iran doesn't have, in countries that Iran won't attack, with a system that might not work. The system can't even touch Russian nuclear capability, but it still makes them very nervous. Rationally, Russia should just ignore such a minor detail and move. However, politics and people being what they are, putting weapons close to someone homeland tends to frighten them. If Russia put missile defense systems in Cuba, we'd respond the same way. The Cuban missile crisis started because of stuff like this, and anyone with sanity wants to prevent that from happening again. Risking the nation over something so useless is a bad idea. __________________ He'd be right at home on some ancient battlefield, swinging an axe into somebody's face.