In the wake of Sept. 11 tragedy, some wily snake-oil salesman would have us believe that a Star Wars National Missile Defense system is workable and would actually make us safer. Our government touts its recent “successful” interception of an intercontinental ballistic missile. That simulation was not a test so much as a publicity stunt to sell Americans on an unworkable, expensive and illogical “defense” system. The target missile traveled at unrealistically low speeds, carried a homing beacon, and there was one decoy launched. Also, terrorists do not need high-tech or nuclear weapons – a National Missile Defense system couldn’t have averted Sept. 11, nor would NMD eliminate the threats of dirty bombs (nuclear materials released as radioactivity but not necessarily launched in missiles), nor releases of chemical-biological weapons.
NMD would, however, further undermine our tenuous position with nuclear superpowers like Russia, with whom we’re already on shaky ground since Bush withdrew America from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
NMD would waste trillions of dollars we could spend on rebuilding and strengthening our infrastructure, developing renewable energy sources to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and ensuring every American has a home, decent education and health care.
Under ideal and controlled conditions, the Defense Department can deliver a “success.” Don’t let their success (designed to repel criticism and funding cuts more than missiles) fool you – it’s a waste of money. Better ways to increase our national security include spending money on: helping re-build Afghanistan (particularly, providing for schools that do not merely teach jihad), rebuilding and strengthening our nation’s social services, environmental protection, educational and health care systems while our government signs the ABM Treaty. A NMD endangers us, is a waste of money, a misfire in every sense. Please call or e-mail President Bush and your other representatives to demand our money be spent wisely and effectively.
Snohomish
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