Coreia do Norte e o Programa de Defesa dos EUA

Mais um teste que fracassou.

Os EUA continuam a tentar aperfeiçoar o sistema de defesa anti-míssil, mas os percalços sucedem-se. O projecto tem tido o incondicional apoio da administração Bush, principalmente devido ao "argumento Coreia do Norte", mas os custos dos fracassos começam a dar razão aos críticos do Congresso que falam em desperdício de verbas:

"The nation's fledgling missile defense system suffered its third straight test failure when an interceptor rocket failed to launch Sunday night from its base on an island, leaving the target rocket to splash into the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon said Monday.

The target rocket was launched from Kodiak, Alaska, at 9:22 p.m. Sunday (1:22 a.m. Monday, Eastern Standard Time), but the interceptor that was supposed to go up 15 minutes later remained on its pad in the Marshall Islands, the Missile Defense Agency at the Pentagon said. The target rocket fell into the ocean near Wake Island".

[...]

"The first group of land- and sea-based missiles and their associated systems will cost more than $7 billion. The overall missile defense program is expected to cost more than $50 billion over the next five years.
The Missile Defense Agency has now conducted 10 tests, scoring five early hits in what critics of the agency called scripted conditions. Six missiles are already in place in Alaska and 2 in California, with 10 more to be installed in Alaska this year, Mr. Lehner said.
Some members of Congress have called the missile program a waste of money and ineffective. But some support it, arguing that it is better to field even a limited system sooner rather than later, especially with North Korea's formidable missile arsenal and its embrace of nuclear weaponry".

[in New York Times]

j.marioteixeira@sapo.pt