WAR in Outer Space! U.S. Insists on Right to Develop Arms for Space!
WAR IN OUTER SPACE! / U.S. INSISTS ON RIGHT TO DEVELOP ARMS FOR OUTER
SPACE WARFARE! –
by Stephanie Nebehay, Published on Tuesday, June 13, 2006 by Reuters


GENEVA – The United States on Tuesday reasserted its right to develop
weapons for use in outer space to protect its military and commercial
satellites and ruled out any global negotiations on a new treaty to
limit them.

In a speech to the Conference on Disarmament, a senior State Department
arms control official insisted that such weapons systems would be purely
defensive.

Washington sees no need for negotiations to prevent an arms race in
space as a 40-year-old international treaty banning weapons of mass
destruction in space remains adequate, he said.

John Mohanco, deputy director of the office of multilateral, nuclear and
security affairs, said the United States faced a threat of attacks from
the earth or from other countries' spacecraft. He did not name any
potential attackers.

"As long as the potential for such attacks remains, our government will
continue to consider the possible role that space-related weapons may
play in protecting our assets," he told the United Nations-backed forum.

"For our part, the United States does not have any weapons in space, nor
do we have plans to build such weapons," he said.

The White House is due to announce a new space policy this month, the
first overhaul in a decade. Some U.S. experts have said it will
underscore the Pentagon's determination to protect its existing space
assets and maintain dominance of outer space.

The United States and Britain are under pressure to agree to global
negotiations on space at the 65-member Geneva forum, where they remain
virtually alone in opposing them.

Washington argues a treaty banning production of nuclear bomb-making
fissile material should be the forum's next goal.

Last week, China and Russia warned that space-based weapons would pose a
threat as great as weapons of mass destruction and pointed to gaps in
existing international law. The two powers also back fissile talks under
a wider agenda including space.

LION'S SHARE

The United States -- which has the "lion's share of assets in outer
space" -- remains committed to the peaceful use of space by all nations,
according to Mohanco.

"There is no -- repeat, no -- problem in outer space for arms control to
solve," he said, citing "unprecedented international cooperation" in
civil and commercial space activities, including among former Cold War
foes.

A 1967 U.N. treaty bans weapons of mass destruction from space, but some
experts believe the United States would not shy away from withdrawing
from the pact.

In 2002, it pulled out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty
to begin deploying a missile defense shield.
Mohanco vowed all U.S. activities in the exploration and use of outer
space would comply with international law.

But a new pact to ban anti-satellite weapons or other space-related
weapon systems would be impossible, given the problems of defining what
it covered, because any space object had an inherent "dual-use
potential", meaning it could be used for civilian or military purposes,
he said.
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© Reuters 2006



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