"I always dreamed about doing this," said Seaman Scott Rambus. "I always
hated school. That's why I joined the navy. Most of the guys feel the same way. If we pretend that
[satellite] is one of these school buses, I know we won't miss. We
haven't missed yet."
"This is all about trying to reduce the danger to human beings,"
says Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey. "Specifically, there
was enough of a risk for the president to be quite concerned about human
life."
Some outside the administration suggest there might also be unstated
military aims.
"Bush is just trying to show everyone how tough he is again," said
James Carville. "Similar satellites re-enter the atmosphere all the
time. And what about meteors and asteroids and comets? What's Bush going
to do next, shoot the moon?"
Carville also speculated as to why China was excoriated by the
Administration when that country shot down a defunct weather satellite.
"Bush said he was worried about all the space junk the [Chinese] were
creating. I guess ours won't create any, wink, wink."
"All of the debris from this encounter, as carefully designed as it is,
will be down at most within weeks, and most of it will be down within the
first couple of orbits afterward," said Jeffrey. "There's an enormous
difference . . ."
Ivan Oelrich, vice president for strategic security programs at the
Federation of American Scientists, says, "One could be forgiven for asking
if this is just an excuse to test an anti-satellite weapon."
A Pentagon source seems to corroborate Carville's and Oelrich's
speculations. The source claims that in addition to demonstrating U.S. military might,
this mission is preparatory to shooting down a much larger satellite--the Moon.
"Can you imagine the devastation if the moon fell onto the Earth?"
said the Pentagon source. "We're not sure that would happen in our
lifetimes, but there would be other benefits to shooting the moon.
No more bothersome tides, no more full-moon crime, and doesn't the moon
have something to do with women's periods? Imagine the benefits to
mankind. It's no secret that the president would like to improve his
image. This might do it."
Another source says shooting the
moon would be purely a military mission. "The moon provides too much
light when we conduct certain night missions. China and Russia are
working on similar projects. Whoever shoots the moon first would have a distinct
military advantage in that the enemy would be caught with his pants down."