Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.rush-limbaugh,alt.politics.elections,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.bush
Subject: Re: Bush's Accomplishments
From: kmitche@eis.calstate.edu (Kenneth Mitchell)
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 05:25:38 GMT
Organization: Calif State Univ/Electronic Information Services

pswanson@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Paul Swanson) writes:
> In article <1992Sep28.001055.20039@anasazi.com> john@anasazi.com writes:
> >
> >Quayle said "cruise missile" - not "Tomahawk cruise missile." The
> >cruise missiles do indeed go in through windows (see the gulf war
> >video from a Tomahawk land attack missile).
> 
> Lets deal with the last point first, namely that some video exists from
> a cruise missle.  If you think about it for a moment I think you can
> convice yourself that no such video can possibly exist.  First of all,
> the cruise missles are guided by radar, not video so there is no video
> equipment on board to take pictures with.  Second, there is no way that
> a cruise missle would send an active signal to some receiver because
> that signal could be used to lock in and destroy it (and they travel at
> subsonic speeds so destruction would be relatively easy).  Third,
> exactly where would the cruise missle send a signal?  If there are
> freindly forces in the vicinity why use a cruise missle in the first
> place?  The possibility that a signal would be beamed back to the launch 
> point via satelite is equally absurd.
> 

You probably want to keep a little quieter when you don't know what you're
talking about. 

While I'm unaware of any ACTUAL WARTIME FOOTAGE from a cruise missile,
there ARE a number of videos taken from test/telemetry missiles, and one
particularly impressive one, from an early test of the Harpoon
anti-shipping missile, does show the missile flying in through an open
doorway in a target ship. (Cameras aboard the target vessel also captured
this.) 

Second, destruction of a cruise missile is NOT "relatively easy", as
they're damned small - and while they are subsonic, they are barely so. 

Third, standard tactics (as used in the Gulf war) call for cruise missile
barrages as the first wave in an "Alpha" strike, where the carrier's air
wing are perhaps 3 minutes behind the missiles. The missiles are supposed
to wake him up and get him to turn on his radars just in time for the
"Wild Weasel" aircraft to target them with anti-radiation missiles. Also,
over Baghdad, F-117 "stealth" fighters were in place EVEN BEFORE the
initial missile barrage, and could easily have captured missile impacts on
video. 



> Clinton claimed that there was video of Patriot missles going down air
> shafts and through windows.  He was clearly wrong.  The pictures were of
> various laser guided munitions or video guided glide bombs.  On the
> other hand Quayle screwed up as only he can do by 'correcting' Clinton
> to an equally incorrect munition  (the cruise missle).  And some people
> wonder why Quayle is viewed so negatively.
> 
> Paul.

And we should view Slick Willie POSITIVELY because of this? 

Ken Mitchell
kmitche@eis.calstate.edu
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.rush-limbaugh,alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.elections,talk.abortion,alt.sex