US has been deploying the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) ‘missile defense’ (MD) system in the melon farming community of Seongju, South Korea despite a year long resistance campaign by local residents and their supporters.  Yesterday the US Army moved four more MD batteries into their new base next to Seongju after 8,000 police pushed back against 500 citizens who blocked the roadway for more than 10-hours.  The US maintains that THAAD would protect South Korea from missiles from the north. Experts maintain that because THAAD would intercept missiles at a ‘high altitude’ any missiles fired from the north, because of its proximity to Seoul, would actually fly below THAAD’s capacity to intercept them.  This leads credence to the argument that the US is only using North Korea as a foil and in fact the THAAD, and all US missile defense systems in the region, are aimed at China and Russia.  THAAD’s radar would give the US the ability to see far into China and Russia.  US missile defense systems are actually key elements in Pentagon first-strike attack planning – serving as the ‘shield’ to pick-off any remaining Chinese or Russian retaliatory strikes after the US launched a first-strike.  The US Space Command annually war games such a Pentagon first-strike attack on China and Russia.

 

Bruce K. Gagnon