WASHINGTON — Reports emerging from the Pentagon about plans to test a “Space Bomber” are drawing accusations that the U.S. government is attempting to engage in another arms race.

The bomber, a spacecraft reportedly capable of destroying targets on the other side of the globe within 30 minutes, is a key component of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s plan to modernize U.S. weaponry. The satellite is currently under production by NASA and Lockheed Martin, a leading military contractor.

Pentagon claims that the bomber can cause greater and deeper ground damage from a virtually unassailable height have many critics questioning it as a component of President Bush’s “Missile Defense Screen.”

Alice Slater, president of the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, criticized the Pentagon’s apparent aim to control space through military force. She called it a “total misnomer to talk about missile ‘defense’” when referring to the proposed program.

“The U.S. Space Command ‘Vision for 2020′ report outlines the weaponization of space,” Slater said, “envisioning that ‘space forces will emerge to protect military and commercial national interests and investment.’” She points to this focus on commercial interests as an indication of a desired “extension of 500 years of colonial domination of the world’s resources…to back up corporate interests.” [Read more...]