Iron Dome Boondoggle: Has Obama Just Signed a $225M Check for a Defective Israeli Missile Shield?

[bananas]

Iron Dome Boondoggle: Has Obama Just Signed a $225M Check for a Defective Israeli Missile Shield?

Published on Aug 5, 2014

http://www.democracynow.org - President Obama signed a bill on Monday granting an additional $225 million in emergency funding for Israel to replenish its arsenal of interceptor missiles for its Iron Dome air defense system. The emergency spending was approved unanimously by the Senate and by a 395-to-8 vote in the House. Amidst universal support of Iron Dome from politicians and the corporate media, one of the country's leading missile experts, Theodore Postol, says there is no evidence that Iron Dome is actually working. Postol is well known within defense circles for exposing the failures of the Patriot missile system during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. "I have been privy to discussions with members of Congress who have oversight responsibilities, who have acknowledged in those discussions that they have no idea whether Iron Dome is working or not," says Postol, a professor of science, technology and national security policy at MIT. "And I can also tell you that the U.S. government has not been given any information on the performance of Iron Dome."

[bananas]

1. Iron Dome or Iron Sieve? Evidence Questions Effectiveness of U.S.-Funded Israeli Missile Shield

Iron Dome or Iron Sieve? Evidence Questions Effectiveness of U.S.-Funded Israeli Missile Shield

Published on Jul 31, 2014

http://www.democracynow.org - Just hours after the White House condemned the shelling of a U.N. school in Gaza, the Pentagon confirmed it was providing Israel with fresh supplies of ammunition, including mortar rounds for tanks and ammunition for grenade launchers. Meanwhile, members of Congress are working to supplying hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding for Israel's "Iron Dome" missile shield. While U.S. news anchors, pundits and politicians have repeatedly extolled the efficacy of the Iron Dome in deflecting rocket attacks, the acclaimed physicist Theodore Postol says there is no evidence Iron Dome is actually working. He estimates the Iron Dome, which is partially built by Raytheon, intercepts just 5 percent of rockets fired at Israel. A professor of science, technology and national security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Postol is an expert in missiles, missile defenses, and other aspects of modern warfare.

[DhhD]

3. Could it be that Israel is readying itself for an attack?

Seems like a very strategic site for both types of missiles, ground to air and air to air need to be situated in the land area, where Gaza is know, in order for Israel to defend itself from rockets coming from north of Gaza, flying southward and eastward, to Israeli cities? And the air defense of Israel would seen to be stationed along numerous lines running from north to south through the country, but west of Jerusalem, to get that geometric fix that the professor from MIT is talking about.

[CTyankee]

5. I understand this is a question of the efficacy of the Iron Dome System

but it seems to me that a good defense system is better than a full on attack of targets where there are innocent non-combatants in harm's way. I do believe that Israel has the right to defend itself. For me, the big issue is the nature of the offensive war against Hamas that has killed so many innocent people. I don't think that Obama's signing U.S. funding for the Israeli MIssile Shield is the problem. I think the question raised by Professor Postal is a good one, however. If we are going to spend our money on such a system, it needs to be well spent and not a boondoggle.

[Fred Sanders]

2. 98% of Hamas rockets hurriedly set up and fired land nowhere. Of the 2%, whose unguided

trajectories and projected impact points take it over the populated areas where all the anti-missiles are located, only these are intercepted.

The past success rate is said to be between 60 and 80%, but who knows except IDF and NSA?

Who knows the current rate, silence is golden.

[indepat]

4. Betcha Congress will effusively support cutting the safety net to pay for this boondoggle

[CTyankee]

6. Even if Israel did not exist, the repukes would still favor cutting the safety net...

that's the nature of who they are and their philosophy.