Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 1. November 2004 / Timeline November 1, 2004
Version 3.5Oktober 2004, 2. November 2004
11/??/2004
Første review-konferance over Ottawa landmine-konventionen i
Kenya.
11/01/2004
Det er nu atten måneder siden, at USAs præsident Bush
erklærede krigen i Irak for vundet.
11/01/2004
International aktionsuge mod landminer starter.
11/01/2004
U.S. Prepares to Activate Missile Defense System
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&ncid=1896&e=6&u=/nm/20041101/us_nm/arms_usa_missile_dc
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is set to declare operational
soon a multibillion dollar system intended to defend America from
attack by ballistic missiles, but which critics say will not
work.
"We say to those tyrants who believe they can blackmail America and
the free world -- you fire, we're going to shoot it down,"
President Bush said in August. The Pentagon said the system would
be deemed operational by year's end.
But critics have strong doubts about the project, a descendant of
the "Star Wars" shield idea envisioned by President Ronald Reagan
in the 1980s that even the Pentagon admits will have only
rudimentary capabilities initially.
The Pentagon has conducted no tests on the system since December
2002, and the eight earlier tests all were under contrived
conditions, critics argued.
"What's wrong is they're claiming to have real capability when none
has been demonstrated, and deploying a system so early," said
Philip Coyle, a former assistant secretary of defense who helped
evaluate missile defense under President Bill Clinton.
"This is like deploying a new military aircraft without the wings
and the tail and the landing gear."
Rick Lehner, spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency,
said the system is scheduled to be deemed operational by the end of
the year.
Budgeted at more than $50 billion over five years, it is built on
the simple concept of blasting one missile out of the sky with
another.
Five land-based interceptor missiles have been installed at Fort
Greely in Alaska. A sixth is due there this month, and two more are
set to be placed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California by the
end of 2004, Lehner said.
The Navy said last month a U.S. destroyer with long-range
missile-tracking equipment had begun patrols in the Sea of Japan,
the system's first naval component to be put in place.
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