by Aamer Madhani
A U.S. Patriot missile was accidentally launched last night from an American military base in the Gulf country of Qatar, Pentagon officials confirmed today.
Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the missile self-destructed after the launch and its debris was found three to four miles from the launch site. The incident occurred during training exercises and the military is still trying to determine whether the launch was due to human failure or some sort of mechanical problem, Ham said.
No one was injured and no damage was reported.
"We don't know why or how the missile inadvertently launched, but it did," Ham told a Pentagon press conference. "Preliminary indications are that it did what it was expected to do. It self-destructed."
The missile was fired from Camp As Sayliya, the U.S. military base on the outskirts of Doha that houses U.S. Central Command.
The Patriot is a surface-to-air missile system designed to protect against short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and advanced aircraft. It was most notably used during the Gulf War in defense against Scud missiles fired by the Iraqi military.
The Patriot batteries have been hampered by technical problems in the past. At the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, the Patriot system twice misidentified and shot down coalition aircraft.
In another incident in the first weeks of the war, an U.S. Air Force pilot flying an F-16 fighter jet received a signal that he was being targeted by radar that he later learned was an American Patriot battery. Believing the enemy had a bead on him, the pilot fired one of his own missiles and destroyed the battery.
Comments
Sounds like the same kind of military accident that downed TWA Flight 800 off the East Coast some years back.
The U.S. government ignores substantial evidence of a probable accidental Navy missile launch downing the plane.
Posted by: John Chuckman, Toronto, Canada | October 16, 2007 4:13 PM
I heard that Bin Laden himself hacked into the missile site and gave the launch code. Maybe it is a good thing that Republicans are afraid to go after him in Pakistan.
Posted by: john | October 16, 2007 4:21 PM
Mr. Chuckman, you were spot on with respect to your earlier post about how the American people have failed in their duty of reining in our politicians and their abuse of our Constitution, but you just joined the tin foil hat society with this one . . . .
Posted by: Buster | October 16, 2007 4:55 PM
OOOOOOOPS!
How could we possibly be losing a war with a little country like Iraq?
Posted by: San Miguel | October 16, 2007 5:31 PM
Maybe its HIGH time we 'accidentaly' launched a few ICBM's at China and the Middle East. Maybe we could program them to 'self destruct' a few hundred feet in the air for maximum air burst effect. FRIED RICE CRISPY CRITTERS SMOKE EM OUTTA THEIR HOLES WOOOHOOOO!! lol just kidding!
Posted by: The Decider | October 16, 2007 5:35 PM
Bin Laden? what are you a total idiot or something?
Posted by: Mike | October 16, 2007 5:43 PM
No wonder Russia is worried about having our "missile shield" on it's borders.
Posted by: Russell | October 16, 2007 5:46 PM
Raytheon is most grateful for every ($2 million) Patriot missile fired...
keep that war machine humming... it sounds just like a cash register.
Posted by: richard cheney | October 16, 2007 5:47 PM
"Raytheon is most grateful for every ($2 million) Patriot missile fired...
keep that war machine humming... it sounds just like a cash register.
Posted by: richard cheney | October 16, 2007 5:47 PM"
Yoh! Dickie!
We can afford $700,000,000,000.00 per year for security,and that's just the 'on budget' stuff, but we can't have S-Chip, or National Health for that matter.
These people have us by the short hairs and who knows what it will take to break their hold.
Posted by: C.Morris | October 16, 2007 5:59 PM
oopsie...
Now Russia has an excuse to "accidentally" launch a missile too.
Who is the U.S. kidding??!!!
Posted by: phil donahue | October 16, 2007 6:21 PM
'Gentlemen! You can't fight in here; This is the War Room!'
(President Merkin Muffley}
Posted by: C.Morris | October 16, 2007 6:47 PM
Maybe Bush was trying to take out Al Jazeera like he's always wanted to.
Posted by: AJF | October 16, 2007 6:55 PM
Ron Paul. Hope for America.
Posted by: Cool Hand Luke | October 16, 2007 7:06 PM
How many- of a series- of fail-safe measures failed in order for this to happen?
Posted by: Vivian | October 16, 2007 8:08 PM
Is this another stupid Bush message?
Posted by: John Hanks | October 16, 2007 8:49 PM
"Is this another stupid Bush message?
Posted by: John Hanks | October 16, 2007 8:49 PM"
Maybe this is his new way of gazing into Putin's soul. What might he see this time?
Posted by: C.Morris | October 16, 2007 9:02 PM
"The Patriot batteries have been hampered by technical problems in the past. At the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, the Patriot system twice misidentified and shot down coalition aircraft."
Gee whiz, I wonder how many of our fighter aircraft Saddam's military shot down?
The Patriot; The Osprey of the anti-missile missile category.
Posted by: C.Morris | October 16, 2007 9:11 PM
What we have here is a failure to constitutionalize.
Posted by: Cool Hand Luke | October 16, 2007 9:50 PM
it wasnt by accident guys...
Posted by: jlh06009 | October 16, 2007 10:52 PM
Buster,
Sorry you think so. I am not a conspiracy type, not the least bit superstitious either.
But the bits of evidence available to the public in the case of TWA Flight 800 are remarkable for the direction they point.
It is in large part the growing Frankenstein monster of the American armed forces that is turning the nation into a place in which the national government has little genuine connection with the people.
I do think Flight 800 is a good example of how powerful military considerations have become in the nation, even where a disaster has happened.
Of course, the same is true of the situation in Iraq. According to reliable witnesses, it is a disaster, and much of the lesser conflict, spread through many areas, goes unreported.
The Founders were right about the military, but their words are forgotten, just as American rights are being slowly forgotten.
Posted by: John Chuckman, Toronto, Canada | October 17, 2007 8:56 AM
Hmmmmmmm, an accident, huh? Just like it was an "accident" that a bunch of nuclear warheads were transported across the country via a military aircraft not too long ago. Who do they think they're kidding?
Posted by: liberal in PA | October 17, 2007 10:48 AM
Without having all the details it's hard to say exactly what happened.
What I do know is that Patriots are part of a huge network comprised of many entities that can put information onto the network. These entities are AF, Army, Navy, Marine ground and air assets.
Any one of these 'assets' may have 'hooked' or 'tagged' a track as hostile. When this happens, a Patriot can be launched automatically.
Tracks aren't supposed to be tagged as hostile, but shit happens. Thousands of people in the AOR constantly training, this happens a lot. Usually a trainer catches a trainee before they hit the wrong button......
Posted by: Oops, I hit the wrong button | October 17, 2007 11:48 AM
Russia has old, unstable bombs, nuclear of course. The fear that one of these might go off is a real fear. Think about that for a moment.
Posted by: Native Woman | October 17, 2007 12:03 PM
John, TWA 800 was no accident. It was carrying 8 trillion in FED bearer bonds which would have bankrupted the FED and it was carrying a large party of French and other spooks.
Posted by: bonanzaman | October 17, 2007 12:10 PM
What a crock!!!
Whilst serving in the RAAF, I learned one VERY important rule about life, and that is: "There ARE no accidents, there are only incidents caused by laziness, stupidity, or both".
Posted by: Bluey Morgan | October 18, 2007 9:22 AM
"There ARE no accidents, there are only incidents caused by laziness, stupidity, or both".
Talk about a crock, accidents happen all the time.
Most of the time it's due to a lack of training.
People aren't perfect, even the ones whilst serving in the RAAF.
Posted by: Oops, I hit the wrong button | October 18, 2007 12:16 PM
This Patriot System is becomming more intriguing with age; wondering, are sabatours and spies in our military using prints stollen long ago to instill faults or is this recent accidental launch an addition to the increasing level of military machinery, hardware, jet, helicopter, and other failure (not caused by enemy attack).
Posted by: Robert Evans | October 21, 2007 9:17 PM