Re: Al-Jazeera: Egyptian 'top scientist' unearths comet-whacker's true mission

Jim Oberg wrote:
>
> http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=740
>
> 7/5/2005 Clip No. 740
>
> Renowned Egyptian Geologist Zaghlul Al-Naggar: Deep Impact Spacecraft Had a
> Military Goal and Negligible Scientific Value
>
> Following is an excerpt from and interview with Egyptian geologist Dr.
> Zaghlul Al-Naggar, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on July 5, 2005.
> Dr. Zaghlul Al-Naggar: The main goal of this operation (Deep Impact) is
> military. America wants to prove to the world that it is capable of hitting
> a target with a circumference of no more than six kilometers, hundreds of
> millions of kilometers away.


Hmm. When all the likely threats are well within ballistic missile /
cruise missile / bomber range...?


> The goal is first and foremost a military one,


Only in the sense that a cometary object might one day *be* a
threat....

And when a gazillion other space probes have to carry out similar
acts of accuracy that typically *don't* involve impacting something (How
often were we told of the narrow Apollo re-entry corridor when returning
from the Moon? And how is a remote *soft* landing less challenging?),
who cares?


> and its scientific benefit is negligible. I doubt that the samples they
> obtained could yield scientific results of any value.


Ah, but 10 years ago, when *nature* threw a comet at Jupiter, all
those space and ground based observing gear that looked to see what *it*
might throw up from the deeper atmosphere, that was nothing....

Next time someone sets off some explosives on Earth for geological
research, or oil exploration, that must be the cover for a military
project too, I guess.


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