Beijing secretly fires lasers to disable US satellites

[bemildred]

China has secretly fired powerful laser weapons designed to disable American spy satellites by "blinding" their sensitive surveillance devices, it was reported yesterday.

The hitherto unreported attacks have been kept secret by the Bush administration for fear that it would damage attempts to co-opt China in diplomatic offensives against North Korea and Iran.

Sources told the military affairs publication Defense News that there had been a fierce internal battle within Washington over whether to make the attacks public. In the end, the Pentagon's annual assessment of the growing Chinese military build-up barely mentioned the threat.

"After a contentious debate, the White House directed the Pentagon to limit its concern to one line," Defense News said.

Telegraph.UK

[acmejack]

1. Another couple hundred billion or so rendered useless.

Cool. National Healthcare orbiting up around up there blind.

[nebenaube]

2. time to connect some dots...

Hmmm, they don't want to be observed while our saber is rattling over iran?