Demented Bush administration threatens to attack Europe over GPS?

[HamdenRice]

I just heard an early morning interview on the NY Pacifica affiliate, WBAI, with an opponent of the militarization of space named Bruce Gagnon of Space4Peace.org.

He said that the Europeans are building an alternative to the US controlled satellite system that guides our Global Positioning System. The Europeans are concerned that GPS was designed for military use and is under US military control. They apparently can shut it off to other countries during military conflicts.

The Europeans propose to build an European, second generation technology alternative satellite system called Galileo.

According to Gagnon, the Bush administration has threatened to attack the European satellites if the Europeans try to deploy them -- in other words to attack European space assets, an act of war. The rationale is that Galileo would threaten US full spectrum domination of space.

Developing .... Looking for confirmation in other sources ....

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Oh there's a good idea

Let's just start a war with everyone else in the world anytime they dare do something that is in their self interest. That will solve all sorts of problems, not.

[Kutjara]

6. Only this time...

...we'll be attacking a whole continent, two nations of which have nukes too. And I'm sure they can get the Russians to help out. Hope you've got your bags packed for the endtimes. Wouldn't want to get left behind.

[Kutjara]

2. This spat has been running for a few years now.

The Europeans decided to develop the Galileo system after failing to secure agreement from the US that the existing GPS system be removed from US military control. The Europeans also wanted the artificially high 10 meter error that the commercially available system produced reduced to the 3 meter error of the military system. This too was resisted by the US.

So Galileo went ahead. The 10 meter error restriction was ultimately removed a few years back, but it was too late to stop the Galileo program. Also, the current GPS system remains controlled by the military, a fact unacceptable to...well...almost anyone who thinks about it for more than two minutes, really.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Attacking other satellites? Since when did SDI become operational?

Did I miss it? :shrug::crazy:

[SHRED]

4. Wow...

...I wonder what he'll do when oil starts getting traded in Euros?
Blow up the world?

[converted_democrat]

5. I'm really hoping that isn't true.. If it is true, we got big problems on

our hands folks.. They just want to piss everyone off.. So, in the last week we've insulted China, Russia, Iran, and now our country is threatening an act of war upon Europe? I just have a hunch that this isn't going to end well..

[Stockholm]

7. It is a win win situation

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/galileo/index_en.htm

http://www.esa.int/esaNA/GGGMX650NDC_index_0.html

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

8. I just had a look at space4peace.org's website.

They are supporters of HAARP and chemtrail nonsense. I would say that they've got no real credibility on this or any other issue.

[rman]

9. Doesn't mean Europe doesn't plan its own GPS system,

nor does it mean the US does not want to dominate space.


GALILEO European Satellite Navigation System
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/galileo/index_en.htm
"...the GALILEO satellite radio navigation system, an initiative launched by the European Union and the European Space Agency. This worldwide system will ensure complementarity with the current GPS system."


Unilateralism goes to space
By Loring Wirbel
EE Times
May 22, 2003 (12:54 p.m. ET)
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030519S0030

"From the day Donald Rumsfeld became defense secretary, concurrent with the release of the Rumsfeld Commission Report on national security in space, the Pentagon's favorite buzzword for space technology has been "transformation." But even some of the United States' closest allies worry about another buzzword being used in subtler ways at the National Reconnaissance Office: "negation." The nation's largest intelligence agency by budget and in charge of all U.S. spy satellites, NRO is talking openly with the U.S. Air Force Space Command about actively denying the use of space for intelligence purposes to any other nation at any time-not just adversaries, but even longtime allies, according to NRO director Peter Teets."

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. The OP's point...

...was that Bush had threatened to attack Europe because of their GPS system. Nobody disputes that Europe is building its own version of GPS. And nobody disputes that Bush wants to dominate, well, everything. I am merely suggesting that unsourced quotes from conspiracy theorists should be taken with the several tons of salt they deserve.

[rman]

11. No need for conspiracy

"nobody disputes that Bush wants to dominate, well, everything"

We know what that means for any opposition to this domination.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. Indeed.

That's why we bombed France and Germany for their opposition to the gulf war. The source referenced by the OP is engaging in silly unsubstantiated hyperbole.

[rman]

17. straw man: this is not about the gulf war

The idea that the US will use force to secure its dominance in space is not a silly hyperbole.

[marmar]

12. How DARE Europe challenge U.S. hegemony over outer space?

It's America's manifest destiny to control the planet and the galaxy!!! :sarcasm:

The rest of the world has had quite enough, methinks. :think:

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. The US and EU signed an agreement about Galileo 2 years ago

http://www.useu.be/Galileo/June2904PowellGalileoAgreement.html

so any evidence for this must show a change of mind by Bush since then.

[HamdenRice]

14. Confirmation here in other sources ...

Apparently this plan is confirmed in other news sources and is what Gagnon was referring to.

As Muriel points out, there was an agreement in June 2004 between the US and Europeans, but that apears to have fallen apart when the Europeans brought aboard Russia, China and Israel as technological partners in September 2004.

In October 2004, a US Air Force plan was leaked in which the US planned to develop the capacity to shoot down the Galileo system under certain military circumstances:

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/milspace-04zc.html

US Could Shoot Down Euro GPS Satellites If Used By China In Wartime: Report

London (AFP) Oct 24, 2004

The United States could attack Europe's planned network of global positioning satellites if it was used by a hostile power such as China, The Business weekly reported Sunday.

Galileo, a constellation of 30 satellites and ground stations due to go into operation in 2008, is being launched by the European Union and the European Space Agency to tap into a growing market of global satellite positioning.

China last month became a partner in the Galileo program, which could help provide services such as communications for the 2008 Beijing Olympics but also has applications for strategic military use.

According to a leaked US Air Force document written in August and obtained by The Business, Peter Teets, under-secretary of the US Air Force wrote: "What will we do 10 years from now when American lives are put at risk because an adversary chooses to leverage the global positioning system of perhaps the Galileo constellation to attack American forces with precision?"

The paper also reported a disagreement between EU and US officials this month over Galileo at a London conference which led to the threat to blow up the future satellites.

The European delegates reportedly said they would not turn off or jam signals from their satellites, even if they were used in a war with the United States.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. OK, that makes more sense. n/t