[Xandax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother None Well, on the one hand the US is giving Poland Patriot missiles in return for permission to put up this shield, on the other hand having a missile shield is pretty handy in an offensive war. <snip>

For what we know the shield can't be used offensively. The missiles used in the shield doesn't as far as I've read, carry an explosive charge but use impact to explode incoming missiles. As for patriot missiles, those are also mainly a defensive weaponry due to the nature of how they work (surface to air missiles basically)
The only way the shield could be used is in connection with offence is to preventing/reducing the effect of a retaliating strike after a first strike. But the weapon on its own is purely defensive.

You can't compare that in situation to placement of offensive nuclear-capable missiles on Cuba, as the situations are vastly different in all aspects, except perhaps a type of missiles where used in both.

And @Tricky - nobody is forcing you to read the discussion. If you want to change the world, by all means go out and do it.