Re: [A-List] North Korea

[Waistline2@xxxxxxx]

Ships are first phase in Bush plan for 'missile shield'.

    ABOARD THE USS CORONADO â In the first step toward erecting a 
multibillion-dollar shield to protect the United States from foreign missiles, the U.S. 
Navy will begin deploying state-of-the-art destroyers to patrol the waters off 
North Korea as early as next week. 

    The mission, to be conducted in the Sea of Japan by ships assigned to the 
Navyâs 7th fleet, will help lay the foundation for a system to detect and 
intercept ballistic missiles launched by ârogue nations.â 

    Washington hopes to complete the network over the next several years. 
    âWe are on track,â Vice Admiral Jonathan Greenert, commander of the 7th 
Fleet, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday aboard the USS 
Coronado, which is based just south of Tokyo. âWe will be ready to conduct the 
mission when assigned.â 

    âHighest priorityâ 

    The deployment will be the first in a controversial program that is high 
on President Bushâs defense agenda. Bush cleared the way to build the system 
two years ago by withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which 
banned ship-based missile defenses. 

full: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092604Y.shtml