Bush Seeks Funds for Laser Space Weapon

from Global Network

George W. Bush's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget contains a request for $5.7 million to test fire a ground-based laser into space to try to hit a satellite. If this is approved by Congress the barrier to weapons in space will have been destroyed.

For many years the U.S. military has been seeking permission to test and deploy anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons in space. For many years they were blocked by the Congress from taking that dangerous and destabilizing step. Now the Bush administration is moving to break down all walls that have prevented the Pentagon from successfully moving the arms race into the heavens.

According to Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, "The Space Command was given the job years ago to make it possible for the U.S. to 'control and dominate' space. In document after document since 1987, Space Command officials have stated that in order to carry out the mission of space dominance they would need weapons in space to perform the mission. Now it looks as though Bush intends to give them the green light."

"In a Congress that is dominated by the military industrial complex, it is likely that the $5.7 million for this ASAT test will be approved unless there is a massive global expression of outrage. The time is now for the public to speak out loudly against testing and deploying weapons in space. We don't need a new arms race in space. Our tax dollars should be used for education, health care, environmental clean-up, public mass transit and the like."

The consequences of destroying satellites are many. From creating dangerous space junk, which would imperil commercial satellites, to creating the momentum for a broader arms race into space, this Bush plan to test ASAT weapons would be a disaster.

The Global Network was created in 1992 to build an international movement to stop the nuclearization and weaponization of space. Today the organization has over 150 affiliated groups all over the world. Check out the Global Network's web site at www.space4peace.org.