Vol. 71/No. 39      October 22, 2007

The test was “designed to replicate a missile attack from North Korea,” according to the defense department’s American Forces Press Service.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering said a target missile was launched September 28 from Kodiak, Alaska. Sea- and land-based radar monitored it for 24 minutes; then an interceptor missile was fired from California. Seven minutes later the interceptor hit and destroyed the target.

Washington claims that it is developing the missile shield system as a response to military threats from abroad, specifically naming north Korea and Iran. Actually, the program is aimed at further shifting the military balance of forces against its imperialist rivals, as well as Russia and China. The goal is to give the United States nuclear first-strike capability, which it has not had since the early 1950s when the Soviet Union developed a hydrogen bomb.

In the 1980s then-president Ronald Reagan launched the “Star Wars” project to create a space-based missile shield. The project was later put on the back burner and then revived under the administration of William Clinton in the 1990s. The Clinton administration said it needed the shield to defend against attacks by “rogue states” such as Iraq or north Korea.

Both Beijing and Moscow oppose the program. Russian president Vladimir Putin has spoken out against Washington’s current efforts to station 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.

Polish president Lech Kaczynski and prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski have come out in favor of hosting the weapons. If Washington goes ahead with the Polish site, Putin said Moscow will deploy missiles on the border of Poland.

Putin has urged Washington to instead use a radar base in Azerbaijan, just north of Iran.  
 
 
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