The Conflict over the Star Wars Defense System :: essays papers

The Conflict over the Star Wars Defense System Presently, the threat of missiles is very dangerous. The missiles include biological, chemical, and of course, nuclear missiles. Our nation, the US, is one of the richest and most powerful nations on the world. Since we are so strong, many countries threaten us and endanger the citizens. Lately, a system called the Star Wars SDI was initialized during the Reagan Administration. The system involves lasers that will fry the chips in missiles. That will cause the missile to stop in its flight and not detonate. Now, it is being researched again. But even though the Star Wars system seems flawless, it shouldn^t be employed. The system uses up a huge sum of money. It will cost about $1 trillion to set it up. Regular ground-based missile defenses are almost 10 times cheaper. The nation should protect its citizens with all their money, but the Star Wars system was never tested. The lasers have been used many times in laboratories, but the whole assemblage can malfunction before we even try it. People should know what type of defense system is protecting them and should know if it will defend them fully. The country^s taxes pay for the system, but some people may not want the money they pay to be used for violent reasons. While we are making the strongest weapons we could, the nation can do better things that will help not only us but the world. Too many weapons will cause us to get greedy and too powerful. Many other countries despise us. Countries like Russia, China, and even small ones like North Korea are powerful and the US doesn^t have really good relations with them. They may be stalwart, but they still want our technology and power. Most of the countries are not as wealthy as us. Some are also hostile. They wish to obtain our weaponry. If we do employ the SW system, it may violate international peace treaties because we might build the weapon without their consent. Already, the US is involved in battles between countries like Iraq and Yugoslavia. The system can worsen our relations with other countries. The danger from those hostile countries is near. They may prepare to bomb us since they loathe us. Nuclear missiles can be launched at our capital and major cities any moment without us knowing it. The only thing is that the countries don^t have missiles that will travel this far.