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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
Need for Missile Defense Is Increasing
Capt. G. Russell Evans,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.)
Sunday, July 15, 2001
Fortunately, Senate naysayers and media nitpickers are not going to have the
last word, after all, on a National Missile Defense (NMD). The people will,
and the doomsday prophets had better get used to it.
People are waking up to our vulnerability to rogue nations with missile
capability and a grudge against Uncle Sam – plus a rapidly arming Communist
China and some 31 other nations – all with missiles and all with potential
for an accidental or grudge launching.
No Protection
So, what's our protection? Since the 1972 ABM Treaty, it's been mutual
assured destruction (MAD) – also known as revenge. Nuclear proliferation
today, however, far exceeds the MAD solution of Robert McNamara 29 years ago.
Therefore, in revenge for a Chinese nuclear bomb in downtown Los Angeles, we
hit Tiananmen Square – with millions of victims all around and total
devastation for years to come. And that's just two missiles with dozens more
on the way – annihilation beyond description.
Support for NMD is increasing, with President Bush leading the way. Senator
Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and former Senator Sam Nunn, D-Ga., propose a solution
to replace the obsolete 1972 ABM Treaty that will assure Russia's sovereign
dignity, cut its missile stock in half, and also cut the U.S. missile arsenal
in half.
Saving Face, Too
Russia would save face. U.S. taxpayers would finance the Lugar-Nunn plan, but
save money in the long run with reduced maintenance costs for the U.S.
missiles – money that could help pay for development of the NMD.
Paying Russia's bill for nuclear de-escalation is a carrot-and-stick deal.
The time to act on this dramatic move is now, says retired four-star Army
General Barry R. McCaffrey, veteran political-military expert. Consultation
on the Lugar-Nunn plan with NATO allies and, then, the Russians could do the
following:
Replace the controversial 1972 ABM Treaty and thereby remove one of the main
arguments against the U.S. NMD system.
Assure the Russians that no likely U.S. NMD within the next 20 years can
protect against Russia's ICBMs.
Observe restrictions of the 1972 ABM Treaty against testing and analyzing
sea-based, air-borne and space-based ABM systems.
If negotiations fail, the United States should go it alone and design a
system that protects against 21st century threats. For example:
The Chinese threat. China is expanding its ICBM capability with some 50
3-megaton warheads annually, thanks to espionage and Clinton-Gore waivers to
sell U.S. missile technology in exchange for campaign donations.
A tenfold increase is in the works for China, including ballistic missile
submarines with multi-warheads and the new DF31 and DF41 solid fuel mobile
rockets.
This Chinese expansion precedes any possible U.S. NMD. Now is also the time
for serious diplomatic consultations to reduce the Chinese missile threat.
Rogue nations threat. The nuclear missile threat from rogue nations is, in
some respects, equally as dangerous as the Chinese and Russian threats
because of the following real-life situations:
North Korea had a 900-mile missile in 1993. In 1998, it had a Taepo-Dong
missile that, within a few years, will be able to hit Washington with a
nuclear warhead.
Iraq now has 900-mile missile capability and, within 10 years, could have
ICBM capability.
Iran has a solid-fuel missile with a 600-mile range – and growing.
Libya has 50 North Korean No Dong missiles capable of hitting Europe with
nerve gas and biological agents within 10 years.
These threats are out there right now and no one is defending against them.
Opponents say NMD can't be done and besides, it costs too much. So, what is
the value of 10 million lives – wherever located?
'Clunky Monkey'
Ben Cohen, President of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, says the
"Star Wars" concept is a "clunky monkey" that won't work and that money
should go to education, health care and meals for the elderly. Is Mr. Cohen's
priority corporate profits? He's a Vermonter. One nuclear blast to the middle
of Vermont could change his mind.
A January poll by the respected McLaughlin & Associates has overwhelming
support for missile defense, as follows: 72 percent of women; 68 percent of
men; 80 percent of Republicans; 67 percent of Democrats; 70 percent of
blacks; and 58 percent of liberals.
General McCaffrey says: "There is no question that within 15 years, a
U.S.-European-Russian-Japanese science-engineering coalition will have the
required technology to create a multi-layered missile defense and an
integrated, sea-based Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD). ... We cannot
accept open skies and pieces of paper as our sole safeguards against
accidental launch or rogue state threat of attack."
Missile defense is going to happen. It will be costly. It will not be
perfect, but it can save lives – millions of lives – and incalculable
devastation.
Let me close with an observation by Amy Ridenour, President of the National
Center for Public Policy Research, about World War I artist Max Slevogt's
graphic painting, "The Mothers," of "an endless column of wailing mothers
alongside an endless ditch of dead men."
She wrote: "Without a missile defense system, the column of the dead will be
even longer after a future war. But the column of mothers will be shorter,
because the mothers will be dead too."
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without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational
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