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Recent
Stories
April
17, 2003
Joanne
Mariner
Looting Antiquity: the Legal Implications
for the Pentagon
Issam
Nashahibi
Zalmay Khalilzad: the Neocon's Bagman
to Baghdad
Wayne Madsen
Another Sign of the "End Times" for American Journalism
Robert
Fisk
The Army of Occupation
Boris
Kagalitsky
Virtual Saddam Takes Aim
Biljana
Vankovska
A Personal View of Iraq: Where
is the Truth?
Dan Brook
Oil War: Fueling the Empire
Stanley
Heller
Bomb and Steal: This is What Privatization Looks Like
Tim Robbins
A Chill Wind is Blowing Through This Nation
Harold
A. Gould
Iraq After the War
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/17
April
16, 2003
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Jason
Leopold
Halliburton's Bloody History: They'll
Work for Anyone
Kurt
Nimmo
The Destruction of Iraq: Hey, It's
Good for Business
Stephen
Green
Dancing to Sharon's Beat: the Road
to Unilateral Pre-emption
Diane
Christian
The Devil in Bush's Details
Carol
Norris
Mourning Iraq
Anthony
Gancarski
They Call Themselves Economists?
Michael
Sells
Nero in Baghdad
Alexander
Cockburn
Contract with Iraq
Ninan Koshy
India's Devious Middle Path Through the Iraq War
Brenda
Norrell
Lakota Leader: World Must Resist
American Empire
Wallace
Gagne
End of History; More in a Moment
Stew
Albert
On the Road Again
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/16
April
15, 2003
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Robert
Jensen
Self-Determination in Iraq? Then the
US Must Leave
Dr.
Susan Block
The Rape of Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Aiming at Syria: Stop Them Before They Kill Again
Robert
Fisk
The Final Sacking of Baghdad
Col. Dan
Smith
Post-War Iraq: Asking the Right Questions
Ali
Abunimah and Hussein Ibish
A Cycle of Chaos and Confrontation: Misadventures of the NeoCons
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/15
April
14, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Bush's War Without End
Uri Avnery
Gunboat Democracy: This is Only the Beginning
Wayne
Madsen
Americans: The New Mongols of the Mideast?
Shahid
Alam
Iqra: Iraq is Free
Hani
Shukrallah
Day of the Chicken Hawks
Terry
Jones
The Iraq Gravy Train
John
Chuckman
The Iraq War's Trashiest Piece of Propaganda
Patrick
Cockburn
US has a Lot to Answer For: Violence,
Misery and Poverty in Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/14
April
12 / 13, 2003
Carol
Lipton
Wag the Kennel: the Kenneth Joseph
Story
Wayne
Madsen
Meet the New Butcher of Baghdad: Maj.
Gen. Buford Blount III
John
Brown
"They Got It Down": the Toppling
of the Saddam Statue
Kathy and
Bill Christison
Final Thoughts from Palestine
William
Blum
Our Vulnerable Warmongers' Rush to Justify Devastation
Wallace
Gagne
Let the Stealing Begin
Ann
Harrison
Rosenthal Update: Judge Delays Ruling in Medical Pot Mistrial
Case
Henry Miller
What is the Greatest Treason?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Render Unto Cesar
Zeljko
Cipris
Mocking Militarism: On Ishikawa Jun's Song of Mars
Ishikawa
Jun
The Song of Mars
Jamey Hecht
Chairman of the Sandwich Board
Adam
Engel
Hell of a Town: Mayor Bloomberg and
the News
Poets'
Basement
Chang Yang-Hao, Adam Engel and Hammond Guthrie
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/12
April
11, 2003
Omar
Barghouti
From Saddam to Uncle Sam
Ron
Jacobs
Greed is Rewarded
David
Vest
The Corporate War on Iraq
Paul
de Rooij
Propaganda Stinkers: Fresh Samples from the Field
Anthony
Gancarski
Foreign Aid: Embezzlement as Public Policy
Mas'ood
Cajee
Franklin Graham: Spiritual Carpetbagger
Michael
Neumann
Now What?
Michael
Berry
The Neo-Cons Have a Dream
Stew Albert
Oh Freedom
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/11
Website
of the Day
About Those Dancing Crowds
April
10, 2003
Zoltan
Grossman
The Perils of Occupation: the Easier
the Victory, the Harder the Peace
Uri
Avnery
The Night After
Wayne Madsen
The Telltale Signs of Empire
David Krieger
Before You Become Too Flushed with Victory, Think of Ali Ismaeel
Abbas
Jeremy
Brecher
What Can the World Do Now That Tanks Prowl Baghdad?
Robert
Jensen
The Unseen War
Geoffrey
Neale
Ashcroft's War on the Constitution:
A Patriot Attack on America
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Last Tango in Baghdad
Hammond
Guthrie
Rumors of War
Joseph
Heller
Nately's Old Man
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/10
Website
of the Day
The
Third Page
April
9, 2003
David
Lindorff
Secret Bechtel Docs Reveal: Yes,
the War Is About Oil
Doug
Lummis
Saving Private Lynch: Hollywood and
War
Susan
Davis
The New York Times and the Peace Movement
David Vest
Smoking Gun? You're Watching It
John
Chuckman
America's Sovereign Right to Do
as It Damn Well Pleases
Akiva
Eldar
Gary Bauer and AIPAC: an Unholy Alliance
with the Christian Right
Ray
Hanania
Suicide Bombers without the Suicide:
Racism, Hypocrisy and the War on Iraq
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/9
April
8, 2003
David
Lindorff
Killing the Messengers: It Doesn't
Matter If It's Deliberate or Accidental
Richard
Lichtman
Dr. Phil in the Trenches
John
Brown
Why Uncle Ben Hasn't Sold Uncle Sam:
a Former Foreign Service Staffer on Bush's Policy Failures
Ben
Terrall
Report from the Oakland Docks: "The
Cops Had No Reason to Open Up on Them"
Jason Leopold
FERC and Wall Street: Conversations
May Have Violated Federal Law
Anthony
Gancarski
Conyers Heeds the Call on Perle
Linda Heard
Journalists Die, the Networks Lie, Iraqis Ask "Why?"
Ahmad
Faruqui
Wallowing in Hypocrisy
Wallace
Gagne
Baghdad Babble
Harry
Browne
Report from the Protests at the Bush/Blair
Summit
Larry Kearney
I Understand There's a Boy in
a Baghdad Hospital
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/8
M. Shahid
Alam
The Israelization of America
April
7, 2003
Todd
Chretien
Wooden Bullets & Grenades: Oakland
Cops Attack Peace Protesters and Dock Workers
David
N. Gibbs
Spying, Secrecy and the University:
The CIA is Back on Campus
Harry Browne
War and Peace Summit a Royal Farce
Gideon
Levy
America is Not a Role Model
Diane
Christian
A Scene from an Obscene War
Jules
Rabin
Remembering Deir Yassin
James Davis
Oddsmaking in Dublin: Will Bush
Shake Gerry's Hand?
Robert
Fisk
The Twisted Language of War
Patrick
Cockburn
Slaughter on the Road to Dibagah
John
Mackay
War and Art
Seth Sandronsky
Wars and the Color Line
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/7
April
5, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
The Iraqi Humanitarian Relief is
in Shambles
Anne
Gwynne
A Drowning in Salem
Uri
Avnery
Roadmap to Nowhere
Chris
Floyd
Hell for Leather: Bombs, Bullets, Bibles and Bush
William
Cook
Would You Have Sent Your Son (or Daughter) Off to War If...
Gila
Svirsky
A Busy Day for Bulldozers
Mike Ferner
Back from Baghdad: What Next for the Peace Movement?
Joanne
Mariner
Civilian Deaths and Official Apologies
John Stanton
Bush Takes His Killing Orders
from the Lord
Romi
Mahajan
Learning to Count the Dead
Aluf Benn
After Iraq, US Vows to Deal with
Other Mideast Regimes
Mary
Ellen Peterson
Gay Marine Refuses to Fight
William
MacDougall
Country Music and the Crimes of Patriotism
Ron
Jacobs
War and Occupation
Bernie
Pattison
Aborigines and the Different God
Mark
Engler
Iraq War as Arms Expo
Adam Engel
Li'l Box of Love: a Novelini
Poets'
Basement
Tripp, Albert, Katz
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Flesh and Its Discontents: the Paintings of Lucian Freud
Norman
Madarasz
Canada and the War
April
4, 2003
Anthony
Gancarski
Colin Powell's Shame
John
Chuckman
Was Einstein Right About Israel?
David
Krieger
The Meaning of Victory
Tom
Gorman
The Mantra of the Troops: Support
or Treason?
Adam
Federman
The Absence of War
Vijay
Prashad
There Are No More Arguments
Tom
Stephens
The End of the Innocence
Mickey
Z.
Makes Me Sic (Sic): Copy Editing
Bush Speak
Pierre
Tristam
War Coverage: a Dishonest Reality
Show
Hammond
Guthrie
The Deadly Mihrab
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 04/04
April
3, 2003
Uri
Avnery
A Crooked Mirror: Presstitution and
the Theater of Operations
David
Vest
Can You Hear the Silence?
Anthony
Gancarski
Colin Powell Telemarketer
David
Lindorff
Takoma: the Dolphin Who Refused
to Fight
Michael
Roberts
War, Debts and Deficits
Ramzy
Baroud
Now That Iraqis Are Being Killed Is Israel Any More Secure?
Jo Wilding
From Baghdad with Tears
Anton
Antonowicz
Cluster Bombs on Babylon
Alison
Weir
Israel, We Won't Forget Rachel Corrie
Bruce
Jackson
Hating Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Eliot Katz
War's First Week
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 04/03
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April 17,
2003
Patriot Gore
The Fatal Flaws
in the Patriot Missile System
by
JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
Once the rockets are up
Who cares where they come down?
That's not my department
Says Wernher Van Braun.
"Wernher van Braun" by Tom
Lehrer
This time around it was going to be different.
This time around the Patriot missile was going to live up to
all the hype, unlike in the first installment of the Gulf War
when the missiles nearly struck out against Iraqi Scuds, the
softballs of the ballistic missile world.
There was a lot riding on the Patriot
missile system's success. Not just the safety of American and
British troops and journalists or Kuwaitis and Israelis, who
fear they might have been targets of Iraqi Scud missiles (assuming
the regime had any left.) The new and improved Patriot missile
also was going to demonstrate the efficacy of the Bush administration's
mad rush to deploy a revamped Ballistic Missile Defense System,
the Star Wars of Reagan's fantasy. Billions in defense contracts
were riding on the backs of those missile batteries.
As in the first Gulf War, the initial
reports on the new Patriots were breathlessly glowing. As missile
sirens went off in Kuwait, embedded reporters ritually donned
their chemical gas masks, descended into bunkers, then emerged
minutes later to announce that they'd been saved by the mighty
Patriot missile.
The mobile missile batteries supposedly
knocked down several Iraqi Scuds headed toward US Army positions
and Kuwait City. Later, it turned out that the missiles weren't
Scuds and they may have been brought down in the Kuwait desert
on their own volition not by US missiles.
Then came the really bad news. On March
24, a Patriot missile battery near the Kuwait border locked onto
a British Royal Air Force Tornado G-4 jet that was returning
from a raid on Basra. Four Patriot missiles were fired and one
hit the jet, destroying the plane and killing two British pilots.
Two days later, the radar for another
Patriot missile battery locked on to a US F-16. The pilot of
fighter jet located the radar dish and destroyed it.
Then on April 2 an U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet
was shot down by another Patriot missile, killing the pilot.
"They're looking into a software
problem," said Navy Lt. Commander Charles Owens. "They're
going to check everything out. When they do find a fault, they'll
put it out to the rest of the world."
But Pentagon watchers aren't holding
their breath. Based on past experience, it's more likely that
Pentagon brass will attempt to obscure the cause rather than
reveal a fatal design flaw in a revered centerpiece in the Army's
new arsenal of smart weapons.
Indeed, there's plenty of evidence that
the Pentagon and the Patriot's contractors (Raytheon and Lockheed)
have known for nearly a decade that the missile has difficulties
discriminating incoming missiles from friendly aircraft.
The target discrimination problem was
first revealed during testing at Nellis Air Force Base in 1993.
During that test an U.S. aircraft simulating a return home from
a mission was flying in a corridor reserved for friendly aircraft
but still would have been "shot down" by the Patriot
were it a combat situation.
Over the years, billions had been poured
into the program with little sign of improvement in this fundamental
and lethal defect. Subsequent exercises and tests have revealed
that the Patriot radar discrimination problems were not fixed,
according to Philip Coyle, former Director, Operational Test
and Evaluation, the Pentagon's independent testing office. Coyle
says the problems were identified in so-called Joint Air Defense
Operations/Joint Engagement Zones exercises during the mid-1990s.
Despite this, the Pentagon pushed to
increase production of the Patriot III in the months leading
up to the invasion of Iraq. In November of 2002, Lt. Gen. Ronald
Kadish, the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, told
Congress that the Army needed to dramatically step up production
of the new Patriots, not only for use in Iraq but also "to
counter threats in North Korea, Iran and Libya."
"My recommendation is to buy PAC-3s
as fast as we are able to buy them," Kadish said. When asked
about problems with the system, Kadish brushed them off, saying
they merely "minor" and "annoying." Congress,
ever anxious to peddle Pentagon pork, consented, boosting Patriot
missile production by more than 10 percent.
As usual with the Pentagon, cost is no
object. But the Patriot is very expensive system and it's getting
costlier all the time. Raytheon and Lockheed originally promised
to deliver the new Patriot system for $3.7 billion dollars. Now
the cost has soared to $7.8 billion. Each Patriot missile unit
costs about $170 million. In the first Gulf War, an average of
four missiles were launched against a single incoming Scud.
The old PAC-2 is seriously flaw. But
the new version of the Patriot has struggled through field testing,
although this didn't deter the Pentagon's rush to increase production.
Through the summer of 2002, the new Patriot missile had failed
more than half of its field tests.
From the beginning there were signs of
serious glitches in the software program that guides the missile.
The program was two years behind schedule and the costs soared
from $557 million to $1.1 billion for the software alone. And
its still never worked right. By 2001, the cost overruns for
the system had topped $10 million a month.
You simply can't trust the Pentagon to
be honest about the performance of its big ticket items. During
the first Gulf War, the generals crowed about the success of
the Patriot, saying that it hit more than 80 percent of its targets.
In fact, the missile scarcely hit any incoming missiles, as was
revealed in a General Accounting Office investigation. The GAO
audit concluded that the Patriot missiles hit less than 9 percent
of the Iraqi Scud missiles that were launched during the first
Gulf conflict.
"The results of these studies are
disturbing," said Theodore Postol, the MIT scientist who
studied the Patriot missile's kill rate in the first Gulf War.
"They suggest that the Patriot's intercept rate during the
Gulf War was very low. The evidence from these preliminary studies
indicates that the Patriot's intercept rate could be much lower
than 10 percent, perhaps even zero." The Pentagon went after
Postol with a vengeance, accusing him of using classified documents
for his conclusions on the ineptitude of the Patriot missile
system.
What's more disturbing is that the Pentagon
knew all this and covered it up. So did the Patriot's prime contractor,
Raytheon. In the immediate aftermath of the Gulf War, the US
Army issued two assessments on the Patriot missile system's performance:
one on Patriot Scud kills in Israel and another in Saudi Arabia.
Initially, the Pentagon claimed a success rate of 80 percent
in Saudi Arabia and 50 percent in Israel. A few months later,
the Pentagon scaled those back to 70 percent and 40 percent.
A year later, the Pentagon admitted that had a high degree of
confidence in only "ten percent" of the kills.
Why the slow comedown? American wars
have served as live fire arms shows. The hype on the Patriot,
which the US media eagerly gobbled up, was designed to help market
the missile system to other nations. In the immediate aftermath
of the first Gulf War, more than a dozen nations placed orders
for Patriot missile systems. The contracts were signed before
the purchasers (including Turkey, South Korea, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia) learned of the Patriot's weak batting average.
There were lethal consequences to the
Patriot's failures during the first Gulf War, which the Pentagon
glossed over. On February 25, 1991, a Patriot missile battery
in Dharan, Saudi Arabia missed an incoming Iraqi Scud. The Scud
hit an Army barrack housing US soldiers. The rocket attack killed
28 people and injured more than 100 others.
The Patriot missile is based on 1970s
technology and was originally designed for use as an anti-aircraft
weapon, a role it reverted to with tragic consequences in the
latest Gulf War. In the 1980s, the Patriot was modified to serve
as anti-ballistic missile system for use against short-range
rocket attacks.
"The Pentagon has known for a decade
that the Patriot cannot distinguish its targets from our own
aircraft," says Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the
Project on Government Oversight,
a Pentagon watchdog group. "It is an outrage that they have
not fixed this fundamental flaw, yet continue to buy it and sell
it to our allies, and have the gall to promote this weapon in
both Gulf Wars as a star when they've known it is a dud."
Today's
Features
Joanne
Mariner
Looting Antiquity: the Legal Implications
for the Pentagon
Issam
Nashahibi
Zalmay Khalilzad: the Neocon's Bagman
to Baghdad
Wayne Madsen
Another Sign of the "End Times" for American Journalism
Robert
Fisk
The Army of Occupation
Boris
Kagalitsky
Virtual Saddam Takes Aim
Biljana
Vankovska
A Personal View of Iraq: Where
is the Truth?
Dan Brook
Oil War: Fueling the Empire
Stanley
Heller
Bomb and Steal: This is What Privatization Looks Like
Tim Robbins
A Chill Wind is Blowing Through This Nation
Harold
A. Gould
Iraq After the War
Steve
Perry
War Web Log 4/17
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