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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!poseidon!brent
From: brent@poseidon.UUCP (Brent P. Callaghan)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: ASAT test
Message-ID: <1296@poseidon.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 3-Oct-85 09:40:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: poseidon.1296
Posted: Thu Oct  3 09:40:24 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Oct-85 04:54:44 EDT
References: <2258@ukma.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft NJ
Lines: 30

>I am completely for the ASAT tests.  Anything that can shoot down nuclear
>missiles before they can kill millions of people is OK by me.  Even if they
>only stop 10%, that's more people that will live.
>
>I am surprised that so many people see the ASAT program as evil.  We are
>talking about a defensive weapon here.  Why don't you anti-ASAT people
>go campaign against machine guns.  They have killed more people than an
>ASAT ever will.

Wrong!  The current ASAT weapons are designed to knock down
spy satellites in long-term, well defined orbits.  They are
totally ineffective against sub-orbital nuclear warheads
and have no ability to recognise decoys.  
Spy satellites are a vital tool in nuclear limitation treaty
verification.  They have done more to reduce cold war tensions
than any amount of politicking.  Shame on those who threaten
the continued existence of the humble spy satellite.

A 50% reduction in nuclear arsenals is a far more attractive
alternative to wasting a trillion dollars on Star Wars.
What's more, it is verifyable.  How will we ever be sure of
the "knock down" ratio of the completed SDI ?  Can we honestly
believe that it will be 90% and can the U.S. maintain the system
at that level for any length of time?
-- 
				
Made in New Zealand -->		Brent Callaghan
				AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft, NJ
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