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US to Try to Shoot Down Spy Satellite – AP (2/14/08):

Taking a page from Hollywood science fiction, the Pentagon said Thursday it will try to shoot down a dying, bus-size U.S. spy satellite loaded with toxic fuel on a collision course with the Earth.

I couldn’t find a book that was laying odds on the success of this mission, so if anyone thinks it’s going to work, I’m happy to take some of your money. But forgive me for assuming that this is just another incarnation of the President playing with his commander-in-chief responsibilities:

“This is all about trying to reduce the danger to human beings,” [Deputy National Security Adviser James] Jeffrey said. “Specifically, there was enough of a risk for the president to be quite concerned about human life.”

I wonder if he gets to put the button that launches the missile. After all:

There might also be unstated military aims, some outside the administration suggested.

Similar spacecraft re-enter the atmosphere regularly and break up into pieces, said Ivan Oelrich, vice president for strategic security programs at the Federation of American Scientists. He said, “One could be forgiven for asking if this is just an excuse to test an anti-satellite weapon.”

And on top of the unnecessary phallic exercise (nullus) we have some good old fashioned Bush-era hypocrisy. Just last year when China shot down one of their own aging satellites, it wasn’t kosher:

“The United States believes China’s development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area,” [National Security Council chief spokesman Gordon] Johndroe said. “We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese.”

Depends on the definition of inconsistent?