The Great Israeli Iron Dome Hoax
Call it a billion dollar + scam. Add another congressionally funded $225 million tax dollars. Expect millions more on request.
In April 2002, noted MIT physicist Theodore Postol headlined his Technology Review article "Why Missile Defense Won't Work." The notion is more hoax than possibility. His reasoning was detailed and technical. What's supposed to work doesn't as claimed. Hitting and destroying a missile with another one isn't possible. It may never be other than occasional lucky exceptions. Claims otherwise are fabricated to maintain funding and deceive populations into believing they're safe.
According to Postol, "(t)his should be of profound concern to every US citizen" (and every Israeli one.) "The officers and program managers involved in developing the antimissile system have taken oaths to defend the nation." "Yet they have concealed from the American people and Congress the fact that a weapon system paid for by hard-earned tax dollars to defend our country cannot work." The same holds for Israel's Iron Dome. Postol asks is it more sieve than effective missile shield?
Israel's early warning system alone works as intended. It gives people time to shelter for safety. According to Postol, "the probability of (Iron Dome) destroying the artillery rocket warhead is essentially zero."
The same holds for Iron Dome intercepts "chasing rockets from behind. Occasional Iron Dome intercept attempts arise in a near-vertical trajectory. "That is the only engagement geometry where (it) has a non-zero chance of destroying the rocket - the artillery rocket warhead," says Postol.
At least 95% of ID attempts fail. During the 1991 Gulf War, fabricated Patriot missile defense success was reported as 96% or greater. Postol and others at MIT analyzed the data. They called likely Patriot success ZERO. When Israelis see overhead explosions erroneously called successful intercepts, they're observing ID warhead explosions.
Money spent on ID and other missile defense hoaxes are wasted taxpayer dollars and shekels. "I would not spend money on an interceptor that has a near-zero chance of intercepting an artillery rocket," says Postol. People are deceived to believe otherwise. Safety is available in shelters alone.
A July 10 erroneous Reuters report is typical of major media lies. It claimed Israel's Iron Dome interceptor has shot down some 90 percent of Palestinian rockets it engaged during this week's surge of Gaza fighting, up from the 85 percent rate in the previous mini-war of 2012."
Postol calls these type reports media deception. "(T)he press needs to engage in more due diligence on these matters," he says. Verifiable facts, not fabrications, should be reported. People have a right to know. ID intercept attempts fail the great majority of the time.
Crude Hamas rockets with 10 - 20 pound warheads "are not lethal weapons," says Postol. They don't work as intended. Sheltering in time is the best defense. ID success is a political deception.
At the same time, it's expensive. It's a small missile. It weights about 200 pounds. It costs $400,000 each, not $20,000 according to some Israeli sources. Raytheon produces it in America. According to Postol, "(t)here's a significant question there about whether the Congress and the American people have accurate information about what this system is really costing."
Most important is its ineffectiveness. People are deceived. Huge amounts of money are wasted. Big Fat Lies substitute for truth and full disclosure.
Media scoundrels are complicit. They regurgitate fiction, not verifiable facts. Israelis and Americans are willfully deceived.
On July 19, Postol headlined his Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article "The Evidence that shows Iron Dome is not working." He explained much of what's covered above.
"Close study of photographic and video imagery of Iron Dome engagements with Hamas rockets (currently and during 2012 Pillar of Cloud hostilities) shows that the low casualties…can be ascribed to Israeli civil defense efforts," not ID effectiveness. Data show its performance hasn't improved from two years earlier. Effectiveness requires destroying rocket warheads. Their back ends are empty pipes. It's a failed system. It's willful deception. It's a hoax. If destroyed, warheads will fall and explode on the ground. Destroying a rocket warhead "is a considerably more demanding mission than damaging other parts of the targeted rocket," says Postol. Success depends on approaching the rocket almost directly head-on. Engaging from the side or back has virtually no chance of success.
Photos of ID contrails show most ID intercept attempts either chase Hamas rockets from behind or the side. "In both such cases, geometry and the speed of the interceptors and rockets make it extremely unlikely the interceptor will destroy the rocket's warhead," says Postol.
ID can miss many ways. "Because of the uncertainties in the exact crossing speed and geometry of two high-speed missiles, even a perfectly operating Iron Dome fuse may fail to place lethal fragments onto an artillery rocket's warhead," Postol explained.
"In addition, unless the distance between the Iron Dome warhead and the warhead of an artillery rocket is small (roughly a meter or so), there will be a greatly diminished chance that a fragment from the Iron Dome warhead will hit, penetrate, and cause the detonation of the artillery-rocket warhead."
Front-on engagements guarantee no success. Their "geometry merely indicates that an ID interceptor has a greater-than-zero chance of destroying the target-artillery rocket warhead."
Small-sized incoming rockets pose other problems. Successful intercepts are even harder to achieve. When ID interceptors explode overhead, but have contrails showing they crossed the expected rocket trajectory from behind or either side, "it can be said with a high degree of certainty, that no intercept could have occurred," says Postol. "It is absolutely clear: There is no evidence in the public record to show that Iron Dome is performing at an intercept rate of nearly 90 percent." At best, it's 5% or less. Perhaps it's close to ZERO. Willful public deception deprives Israelis of information they need to know.
Transparency is nonexistent. Big Fat Lies substitute for truth and full disclosure. ID is a hoax. It doesn't worked as claimed. Perhaps it never will. Hitting a missile with another one is like hitting a bullet with one fired at it. Success may be a scientific impossibility other than occasional lucky exceptions.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on failure. Willful deception keeps people from knowing they've been had. According to Postol: "In the absence of Israeli data backing claims of Iron Dome efficiency, and based on the unambiguous evidence I have reviewed, a conclusion seems clear:"
"The Israeli government is not telling the truth about Iron Dome to its own population, or to the United States, which has provided the Israeli government with the bulk of the funding needed to design and build the much-heralded but apparently ineffective rocket-defense system."
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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He has devoted his time and efforts to progressive causes and organizations, all involved in working for a more humane and just world for all people everywhere, but especially for the most needy, disadvantaged and oppressed. His efforts since summer 2005 have included writing on a broad range of vital topics ranging from war and peace; social, economic and political equity for all; and justice for all the oppressed peoples of the world like the long-suffering people of Haiti and the Palestinians. He also co-hosts The Global Research News Hour, gives occasional public talks, and appears frequently on radio and at times television. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. Also visit his blog and listen to The Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening. His new book "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War" can be ordered here. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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