Are we letting NK develop nukes so we spend money on missile defense?

[LostInAnomie]

Almost from the day that Bush* entered office he wanted to throw money into a strategic missile defense system but was without a perceived threat to scare up the spending. Now we have NK developing long range missiles and nuclear bombs because of Bush's* hands off approach towards handling them. On both occasions, when NK used their new weapons one of the first things the administration said was how this shows the importance of developing a strategic missile defense.

The strategic missile defense would be the windfall that keeps on giving to the military industrial complex. It would require constant, high cost upgrades, and a huge R&D budget. Not only that, but developing a SMD system would cause a new arms race with other countries which would develop new missiles to try to pierce our defenses which would in turn cause us to dump more money into R&D. In other words, it would be the Pentagon's wet dream come true.

Am I getting anywhere close with this, or should I throw on the tin-foil hat?

[Kahuna]

1. That thought has occurred to me too.

:tinfoilhat:

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. They have wasted money on missile defense for 30 years.

They don't need any new excuses.

[bowens43]

3. We aren't 'letting them'.

They sure don't need our permission to develop nukes. The US has neither means nor the authority to stop them.

[Ksec]

4. Well it wouldnt surprise me.

And when a winger says its Clintons fault, tell them Clinton had nuke materials locked up with inspectors guarding it. Then the Fuerher rattled his battle sword at NK, who then booted the inspectors out and started refining the nuke materials again, which led to today. A nuclear North Korea.

[Eric J in MN]

5. The Bush Administration has been using North Korea...

...as an argument for the Star Wars missile system from the start.

The problem with the argument is that Star Wars is conceived to destroy missiles which travel through space.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed that nuclear explosives can be used without flying the explosives through space.

[Mr Rabble]

6. Obviously. Thats the whole point of the WOT.

Nobody could possibly be this incompetant, not even Bush.

Every move that is made is solely for the purpose of propping up the M/I/C.

[patrice]

7. Yep.

Human armies have too many political consequences.

The arms industry has all of the an$wer$$$$$$$$$.

[Orrex]

8. Has any part of the missile defense system ever worked at all?

Aside from the part that funnels shitloads of cash into well-connected pockets, of course...

[Disturbed]

9. Now that is quite logical.

The MIC needs to be fed huge amounts of that green stuff.