Space weapons lurking beneath the Ohio countryside sounds like a sci-fi nightmare only the Pentagon can conjure up, but an on-going environmental impact study may find the Buckeye state a great place for shooting down Russian or Chinese satellites as they orbit the planet. World War III would have erupted if the US were shooting down Russian or Chinese satellites, but the recent events in the Ukraine certainly make the future as murky as ever. But when it comes to space warfare, this “mad” future is now, and licking their chops is the Pentagon and their super-rich defense contractors who are eyeing Camp Ravenna in northeast Ohio for a “Ground-based Mid-Course Missile Defense” site, better known in missile defense parlance as a “GMD” site. Like nuclear missiles, GMD “interceptors” are stored and launched from underground silos. If the Pentagon were to give a green light for Camp Ravenna, the money spent on building and maintaining a GMD site would reach well into the billions, and most of it will go to defense contractors such as Boeing or Lockheed Martin. Without a doubt the state of Ohio could use that money for its marginalized urban schools, or take long-term care of the state’s veterans home from Afghanistan and Iraq, or even extend unemployment benefits. But the Pentagon and many Congressional hawks continue to push hard for a US missile defense system that has spent over $150 billion since the 1980s, yet has failed numerous times under testing, let alone proven itself under fire. Indeed, a GMD test failed last summer when the interceptor stalled as it targeted a ballistic missile streaking through space over the Pacific Ocean. Keeping a close eye on the Pentagon’s missile defense program – which was born during the Reagan administration and naively tagged “Star Wars” by an apologist mainstream media – is Bruce Gagnon of Maine, a globally recognized peace activist who is fighting hard to stop mankind from going to war in space. Why the US has spent billions on unproven missile defense is a mystery that Gagnon, a veteran of the Air Force, has chased for over 30 years now. What has become so obvious, he says, is how missile defense has become The Big Lie. Perhaps the biggest sham of all time, he says. Because it’s not about defense. Missile defense is the mask hiding this war technology’s true identity – space weapons. “Missile defense,” says Gagnon, “is a Trojan Horse.” “The so-called missile defense system, the idea of having a bullet-hit-a-bullet in space to protect the continental US or Japan, is more about offense than defense. The true purpose of this arms program is to control and dominate space. And who ever controls space will control the Earth.” Modern warfare has become so dependent on satellites, shooting them down has become an X-factor that could mean victory against equal adversaries, even if trashing Earth’s lower orbits is the end result. In a 2008 test, the US Navy shot down what was described as a “malfunctioning” satellite as it orbited over Hawii, but Wikileaks later revealed the test was also meant to intimidate China. Some reject Gagnon’s “Trojan Horse” theory as “too outlandish” (so to speak). The government, however, apparently takes Gagnon’s work very, very seriously, as he has felt the chill of government “eaves-dropping” long before it became fashionable. Not long after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started, Gagnon strongly suspected he and his family were being spied on, but he didn't have any evidence, and he didn't know who might be behind it. Still, he was caught off guard when the American Civil Liberties Union called and told him it had uncovered court documents revealing that NASA and the U.S. Air Force were secretly monitoring him, his family, and his non-profit, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. “We're a small organization with meager resources," said Gagnon. “They feel threatened by us? That tells us something.” Surprisingly, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), often described as a “liberal Senator” by the mainstream press, has thrown his support behind any future GMD site at Camp Ravenna. Brown stated that, “designating Camp Ravenna as a missile defense site would create local jobs and strengthen the regional economy.” While Brown has received a miniscule amount of campaign funding from actual defense contractors – just $125,000 of the $41 million he’s reaped since 1991, according to Opensecrets.org – the money that may be spent by defense contractors is just too good to turn down, apparently. “This doesn’t surprise me because all kinds of liberal Democrats support missile defense,” says Gagnon. “Liberal Democrats support anything the Pentagon has to hand out because it’s the only money in town. It’s the only way to bring money to any states.” While many believed President Obama would cut missile defense when he entered office in 2008, Gagnon says he’s “expanded it”. “He raised more money from the military-industrial complex than John McCain did during the 2008 Presidential election,” he said. Many Democrats and liberals are in the dark about how the ultra-rich Crown family of Chicago and many of their allies bankrolled Obama’s political career from the get-go. The Crown family, by the way, has a sizeable ownership stake in the mega-defense contractor General Dynamics, as family remembers sit on its corporate board. General Dynamics since the 1980s has been awarded billions in missile defense-related contracts from the Pentagon. “I knew Obama was a bought candidate from the start,” said Gagnon.