‘33 Minutes’ and the Importance of Missile Defense
by Seth MitchellA missile is fired from the a distant nation, heading for your city; in only 33 minutes or less, that missile will find its target. Such is the premise of the Heritage Foundation’s aptly named documentary, “33 Minutes.” The film covers the history missile defense and more importantly discusses the nuclear threats that face our nation today.
With the news of Iran’s nuclear research being more widespread than previously thought, as well as the Obama administration’s retreat on the missile defense system; a documentary like “33 minutes” is more timely than ever. Too often, Americans think of nuclear threats in the abstract, and this film does much to move the hard truths of the current state of our defense into the concrete. Featuring interviews with numerous political luminaries such as Ronald Reagan’s Attorney General from 1985-1988, Ed Meese III, and the Iron Lady herself, Margaret Thatcher, the film will leave you understanding why missile defense is arguably the most important issue facing our nation today.
Check out more information about the film on Heritage’s website, and be sure to look for a screening near you. For those of you in the Los Angeles area, Heritage will be having a screening at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood on October 27, followed by panel discussion including Senator Jim Talent and Kim Holmes, VP of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Be sure to RSVP for this important event.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
33 Comments
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by johnnyA99, Fernando Colon. Fernando Colon said: ‘33 Minutes’ and the Importance of Missile Defense http://bit.ly/1EgW74 [...]
Margaret Thatcher: "America is, after all, freedom's greatest hope."
Wow. When is the last time any of you heard that about your country?
God bless you Lady Thatcher.
Palin / Thatcher 2012.
This is the folly of President Messiah giving away 2nd and 3rd strike capibility.
Russia is rattling their sabers and in end it is us in danger.
This is what happens when, in the words of our ONE TRUE GOD, OBAMA! you "unclench your fist".
I wrote that phrase down when I heard Margaret Thatcher say it. If it doesn't bring tears to the eyes of those that hear it then maybe they're living in the wrong country.
Time for people to stop burying their heads in the sand. The threat of nuclear attack is real and we do not have a President that is going to protect us.
liberal ideology… it guarantees its own destruction for crying out loud. like a parasite on a host it kills the host and eventually itself… insane. total batcrap insane
Right now our only hope is Obama?
And his only true weapon is talking so much he will put everybody to sleep.
Just how Evil is Iran's leadership. It would be my guess we need to build the best missile defense shield as soon as possible. Cause I think Iran is crazy evil.
So here we are today with the boy king in charge. He has no understanding of history. He wants to implement failed policies that have already been tried and proved wanting. He has no idea how to deal with belligerent nations. If he was just half as smart as his supporters think he is he would understand the dangers of the path he has chosen. It is like being on a ship and the Captain is a madman. We are trapped with a fool at the helm and we are in stormy waters to boot. Can he navigate the shoals and keep the ship of state off the rocks? Now he wants the ship to de-arm itself and pirate waters are ahead, why am I concerned?
Don't remember that Thatcher quote. When did she say it?
You might also want to write down the words of Canadian Gordon Sinclair after 9/11 wrote
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.
Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.
The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
.
.
.
I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."
I've got a missle in my pants, and it's aimed at the land of love.
I think you'll find that the Democrats have made sure that there is a sufficient ABM defense in place so that they can claim plausible deniability should the nukes fly. But if the level of effort they've cut back to does happen to turn out insufficent to the job, they can always threaten the broadcast licence of which ever media outlet brings them to task for it ala "Path to 9-11".
I'm thoroughly scared now thanks. If there's anything we should be spending money on, it's DEFENSE. I understand that Obama wants to spend less on the military (after all, he's a Democrat), but not at the expense of missle defense funding.
In the above trailer at about 1:33.
No, Gordon died in 1984. But he said most of those things in 1973.
This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 10/18/2009, at The Unreligious Right
The federal Gov. has LIMITED powers and LIMITED duties. National defense is the most important… can you name the others? Hint: weights and measures is one. The fewer your responsibilities, the more likely you'll accomplish them.
And Obama just threw Poland under the bus and withdrew the missile defense system we were going to put there… and got NOTHING from Russia in return. God I hate this guy.
2010 ballots must include a 'NONE OF THE ABOVE' option. What do we want now? None of the above now, say it, None of the above now. This is what Acorn employees should get fed money for.
The Democrats just took 20 million bucks from Defense to build a Teddy (killer) Kennedy shrine in Massachusetts. Obama and the Democrats can't buy votes with Defense Dollars. They need Welfare Dollars to buy the freeloader vote..
never vetted the piece, it was forwarded to me and others after 9/11, more of a pajama wearing blogger than a fact checking journalist a la Michelle Malkin.
still, how many countries have come to our aid, after all the times that we have come to theirs?
Silly people, Obama dreams of a world without nukes, and so it will be. Since he became president, there is no more racism, there is no more corruption in Washington, there is no more debt, there are no more 'politics as usual'. Why can't you right wing terrorists see that? Oh, that's right, because you are too busy complaining about all of those things! Once the Big O takes down the evil bankers, traders, car oligarchs, stupid police officers, doctors, dentists, health insurance fraudsters (oh, how we hate those health insurance people), and of course, Rush Limbaugh, cap and trade and health reform will pass, and we will be on our way to utopia! Nobel prize, baby! Does Bush have one of those? I didn't think so. Oh yeah, we're on our way…Mmm-mmm-mmm.
Why do we need to spend money on defense? Smart diplomacy and an outstretched hand will insure America's place at the world's table.
Check your flight times, folks. With Venezuela reaching out to Iran and North Korea, among others, what would be the lead time for a missile launch from there? It's only a little farther than Cuba. A roughly 2000 mile radius would cover everything from Houston to New York City. A 4000 mile radius would cover everything to Seattle. Perhaps more importantly, however, missles are not the only delivery option. In any case, our more capable state enemies have submarines – so don't expect to get any civil defense warning. The lead time is really just a few minutes, and spreading panic among the doomed won't be high on the priorities in such a scenario.
Agree, but it'll be the Wahhabists that will hit first from Venezuela.
Nice piece Mark. Thank you for sharing it.
Sshhh, President Obama is trying to sink a putt.
The numbers are all off. It's ~7500 miles from Iran to the US; for a missile to reach the US in 33 minutes or less it would need to have an average speed of roughly 15,000MPH (about Mach 20).
Perhaps a sea launch would match the numbers, but Iran does not have a Navel vessel capable of crossing the Atlantic and launching such a missile.
Who says Iran needs a naval vessel? A tramp freighter that floats will work just fine.
An intercontinental balistc missile travels at more than 24,000 MPH. To travel 7000 miles, a missile must effectively escape earth's atmosphere which pretty much means you have reached gravitational "escape velocity". We are talking about a missile that has achieved the velocity necessary to escape earh's gravity. The kill vehicle in missile defense is about the size of a Volkswagon. The velocity means the interceptor does not need explosives to destroy the target. At a combined impact velocity of 40,000 plus MPH, even a Volkswagon will cause a lot of damage.
Your name says it all I fear. Diplomacy only works on people willing to be diplomatic. How many times have we seen Kimm Jong Il walk away from the table? Or Ahmadenijhad? There is no diplomatic avenues with these psychos. If they threaten our lives, or the lives of our allies (fewer of those these days) we have no choice but to either sanction them to the brink of starvation or if the threat is serous enough, take them out; teach them a lesson. Except we have a have a stooge in office who will not take the heavy-handed approach with folks who need it because it might tarnish his new Peace medal.
Not from Venezuela, they could carry a nuke into this country in a backpack. They could detonate in any city they want. How about those "open borders" now?
You must be logged in to post a comment.