Why Space Is Important

Chris Floyd tackles the Columbia disaster in this week's column.

While there has been some uproar in the media questioning whether enough money and care was spent on making missions in space safe, Floyd declares that the majority of money and effort injected into NASA is not "to safeguard a bunch of pointy-headed science nerds carrying out experiments in space."

"No," he asserts,

the Bush Regime's priority is the development of what Pentagon warplanners call "Full Spectrum Dominance": the projection of overwhelming military might throughout the heavens in order to -- and here's a familiar theme -- "prevent the emergence of any global rival" to American hegemony. "It's an "urgent mission," says the U.S. Strategic Command, to "seize the high ground" and, in Donald Rumsfeld's words, "avoid a space Pearl Harbor," The New York Times reports.

"Pearl Harbor" seems to be a potent trigger word for the Regime, and for Rumsfeld in particular. You'll recall our recent reports on PNAC, the Rumsfeld-led think tank that spent the last decade drawing up plans for the invasion of Iraq and the domination of Central Asia. One key PNAC concept was the hope for a "Pearl Harbor-type event" that would sweep away opposition to imperial conquests abroad and pave the way for a broad militarization of American society. Who says wishes never come true?

Now a similar fate is in store for the global commons of outer space, it seems. As with the Regime's other plans for domination, Strategic Command's reports are all couched in purely defensive terms -- as if some rogue state or terrorist group were about to launch a multi-trillion dollar space armada to encircle the earth with deadly intent. The truth is that only one nation is capable of doing that: the Lord God's own U.S. of A. And the array of whiz-bang weaponry being avidly pursued by the Regime -- including space-mounted lasers, orbiting nuclear arms and death-dealing solar magnifiers -- goes far beyond anything required solely for defense. If implemented, "Full Spectrum Dominance" will be an inescapable, unstoppable loaded gun pointed at the head of every man, woman and child on the planet, giving new weight to Bush's oft-repeated declaration: "If you're not with us, you're against us."

In other words, the investment in the space program and research is seen primarily as the means to US military dominance of space. We have repeatedly found the costs and dangers to be extraordinary, but the payoff is expected to be worth the price.

The military's stance on "Full Spectrum Dominance" is articulated in their report on the future goals of the military, "Joint Vision 2020."