Posted on 10/01/2011 5:43:24 AM PDT by Fennie
No stranger to controversial, loosely-sourced remarks, presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann said on Friday that China has attacked American satellites using laser beams.
According to Politico, Bachmann said in an interview with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham that China helped North Korea deliver missiles to Pakistan and Iran, assisted Iran in developing its nuclear program, and launched a laser attack against American satellites.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
With Bachmann it isn't easy to know if she's misheard, misinformed or exaggerating. That's a problem for her campaign.
Bingo.
“Satellites With Lasers, NittanyLion wrote:
Although not a fan of her, I find her assertions all very probable and believe as a member of Congress she has access to information leading her to make these claims.
I actually agree. But if that’s the case, did she just leak classified material? As I see it, either way it’s yet another example of poor judgment / discretion.”
Actually it’s been fairly open knowledge for decades that China has experimented with some sort of ground based weapons that can take out satellites. It’s inferred by a suspicious number of satellites that when crossing over China, went dead during the crossing. I heard it mentioned in a NASA press conferences 20 years ago.
Could be! ;-) The MSM has a typical pack mentality that likes to label persons and then reinforce their labeling. This article is a nice example. Check the photo they chose to run with the article. It enforces the notion that Bachman is some sort of nutcase. Even the subtle word choice of "laser beam" instead of "laser weapon" or "high energy weapon", is a form of bias. "Laser beam" instantly brings to mind Dr. Evil.
According to Politico, Bachmann said in an interview with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham that China helped North Korea deliver missiles to Pakistan and Iran, assisted Iran in developing its nuclear program, and launched a laser attack against American satellites.
Good for her for calling this to people’s attention. I happen to be one of those who thinks China could be a real threat. I believe some of the threat they pose to us could be thwarted by a rebound in our economy.
Amen! What kind of conservative does that? I don’t trust Perry. Bachmann, though, is being crucified by the late night comics. They have done to her what they did to Palin (and I am not a Palin fan). They have portrayed her as a dangerous radical nut. It’s really disturbing that so many people can be swayed by what a comedian says, but that is the level that many Americans are at today.
Technology is not there yet. They think USA will have such type of technology within this decade.
There are jamming technology, US and Russia had used against other countries but “Laser” is something else.
MB is not a Physics student.
Impeach.
Better yet, waterboard Soros first and roll up the whole frigging network.
Cheers!
I agree. She’s not at all my candidate, but I would guess there is a basis to her assertion here.
Put yourself in Bachmann's position. It's after a debate where she just bloodied the upstart new golden boy candidate on this topic, and a distraught mother comes up to her gushing about how "Gardasil made my child retarded."
If she blew off the mom in order to do a study "peer review research" (and you just *know* the press was watching) then she'd have been crucified as a hypocrite hiding behind moms on stage but cold towards the suffering of real parents in person.
People on FR don't pay enough attention to how much the politicians are dancing to the tune of the liberal press hoping to minimize (because you never can *entirely* avoid) those dreaded "gotcha" moments which can sink a campaign in 30 seconds.
Cheers!
sfl
But she needs to shut the hell up about stuff that hasn’t been declassified. BTW, your screen name is my Dad’s favorite plane ever. He flew the Voodoo One-Oh-Wonder in NORAD and always said it was the last “fly it yourself” airframe, “before all the damn black boxes”.
Colonel, USAFR
I believe that everyone of those assertions is factual and can be backed up.
She blew it BIG TIME with her HPV remarks. Perry was way out of line ordering mandatory HPV vacines, but not (just?) for the reasons that Bachman said.
1. It is a completely different level of laser power to range an object compared to attempting to damage it or its payload. If our detection systems sensed the reflected energy from those lasers at a great distance, it most likely wasn't a laser rangefinder.
2. Rep. Bachmann is entirely credible, considering her role on the intelligence committee. You might not be, since you buy into the media attacks on her and don't know the difference between a rangefinder and an offensive laser.
“Oh....oh God. Just shut the f up you ignorant woman.”
What a moron you are. You just called someone on the intelligence subcommittee that knows of these things ‘ignorant’. The fact is China did use offensive lasers against our birds. Sorry you have a thing against her but it is you that should just STFU you ignorant idiot.
Pentagon Confirms Chinese Anti-Satellite Laser: The Register, October 2006
Is This China's Secret Anti-Satellite Laser Site? Wired.Com, November 2009
There's three credible links for those of you who are so hasty to discount what Bachmann said. There's a whole lot more where those came from. The only reason I bothered to look is because I remember reading the accounts myself
This is not loosely sourced. She received the details on her teeth from the CIA.
All kidding aside — I seem to remember reading something HERE at FR regarding the Chinese trying to screw with our satellites. I don’t know about “lasers” and all, but this had to have been at least a year ago... Frustrating as I can’t recall an exact time period, or even any specifics. I think it was around the time of that “missile” sighting off the CA coast (or whatever it was...).
Point being - Michelle probably isn’t making it all up, but she seems to have a lot of challenges when it comes to being clear and direct in what she discusses and it makes her come off like a conspiracy theorist as she tries to “dumb down” her comments for the general public (at least that’s what I hope the problems is - meaning she could actuallly work to be a better speaker in that regard - don’t talk down to people, they understand more than the liberal media assumes and the old standard of “writing for a 6th grade education” may still apply to printed word, but I don’t think it applies equally so for spoken television).
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