Star Wars Prequel

by Kenn Thomas, "Things Are Gonna Slide", Steamshovel Press
www.steamshovelpress.com

 

A quote for those out there under the impression that the death star the administration wants to create with the renewal of SDI-Star Wars research is a recent ambition of the military-industrial state:

"An idea that impedes military space progress is the idea that nuclear weapons are the ultimate weapons. People say there are already enough weapons to destroy the world. This causes some people to worry about and to question the need for the development of military space capabilities. Now I don't think the nuclear weapon is the ultimate weapon. And I don't think the one that replaces the nuclear weapon will be the ultimate either. Tomorrow's weapons may employ new and non-nuclear principles of operation. For example, we are still acquiring greater understanding of the principles governing focused energy. We may see these developments lead to focused energy weapons -- lasers.

"The energy directed by such weapons could travel across space essentially with the speed of light. This would be an invaluable characteristic for the interception of ICBM warheads. If a new generation of armaments operating in space could neutralize an aggressor's ICBM's, warfare as we have known it would be outmoded.

"The neutralization of ICBM's by a system deployed aboard a maneuvering space vehicle is no irresponsible escalation of the arms race. People who say we have an unstable military environment say that because they feel the offense has overwhelmed the defense. A weapon such as I have described would return that offensive-defensive balance. And it would move the world into a new era of warfare. More importantly, it would move the world into a new era of preventing war. Assuming, of course, that it was in the proper hands."

--General Curtis LeMay US Air Force Chief of Staff Air Force and Space Digest, 9/62 (LeMay ran for national office as George Wallace's vice-presidential candidate in 1968. He also did Reich-ish cloudbusting work with Trevor James Constable.)

Reprinted for Fair Use Only.