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Corporate
welfare missile system is an offensive threat that will increase global
tensions.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Association of State Green
Parties (ASGP) urges President Bush and Congress to abandon plans to
revive President Reagan's "Star Wars" pipe dream of a missile
defense shield, earlier called Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and now
called National Missile Defense (NMD).
On June 10, 2001, many Greens will participate in a
rally for the "National Mobilization to Oppose Star Wars" to
take place in Lafayette Park across from the White House in Washington,
D.C. ASGP also supports the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear
Power in Space and will participate in the Network's International Day of
Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space on October 13.
Nuclear-powered space-based missile defense represents
a collaboration among every occupant of the White House -- Republican and
Democrat -- over the past generation. Reagan introduced it; Bush Sr.
tested it (at which time its failure and waste were revealed); Clinton
revived it; and Bush Jr. now seeks full-scale implementation. Both
George W. Bush and Al Gore supported NMD during the 2000 election
campaign; Green candidate Ralph Nader strongly opposed it.
Greens demand that funding and resources for programs
like NMD be redirected towards social needs, urban revitalization, and
environmental clean-up here on Earth; that the U.S. research and implement
alternative sources and uses for energy; that nuclear power programs,
which cause threats to public safety and poisonous waste products
difficult to dispose, be dismantled; that nuclear weapons be banned and
eliminated; and that the U.S. lead the world in seeking peaceful
resolution to international conflicts, without the threat of nuclear
attack and retaliation.
"The U.S. Military's goal is offense, not defense,
with a specific purpose to our corporate interests," said ASGP
co-chair Annie Goeke. "This scheme is not only causing severe
international tensions but is part of the greedy plan to increase sales in
US military weapons as we are the number one exporter in the global
market."
Greens raise the following specific objections to
NMD:
-
The last attempt to develop NMD was a failure
and a waste of over $100 billion in taxpayers' money. Missile
defense could only destroy a few crude Iraqi SCUD missiles during the
Persian Gulf War. The Pentagon's cost estimates for NMD were surpassed
by 19 times the real expense of the program. Former Star Wars senior
scientist Aldric Saucier wrote, "The project steadily sacrificed
real defense needs and actual weapons production in favor of extending
the profits of contractors for as long as possible. The revolving door
between the Pentagon and SDI contractors enriched a long list of
military officers who left for greener pastures in the private sector.
Star Wars is largely a paper program producing research and
development studies. The reports are a shameless waste. Multiple
contractors are assigned to do the same work and then to do it again
and again. As a rule, the studies are not read. They get stored at
different locations outside the Pentagon until room is needed for new
ones. Then they are sometimes destroyed without the notice required by
law." (The New York Times, March 9, 1992)
-
NMD violates the Partial Test-Ban Treaty of
1963, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, and the 1972 Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty with Russia. Instead of guaranteeing
security, it will reignite an arms race. According to the Global
Network, "The CIA acknowledges Russia and China will beef up
their offensive nuclear arsenals to counter Star Wars system. The arms
race would then likely spread to India and Pakistan. The ABM treaty
and all other arms treaties would be scuttled. Nuclear anarchy would
result."
-
NMD will offer no defense against low-level
land-based transfer of nuclear weapons, a more likely method of
delivery in coming years as nuclear weapons technology proliferates
and nations without missile systems develop nuclear bombs.
-
Bush's "layered" land-, sea- and
space-based NMD program will cost over $200 billion. NMD
constitutes a huge taxpayer-funded gift to defense contractors --
which have spent over $40 million on campaign contributions and
lobbying over the last two years to win these handouts -- and to
revive special treats for CEOs, lobbyists, and military brass. In
1992, Rep. John Conyers said, "What we are discovering now
is that 'Club SDI' has some pretty attractive travel benefits for its
officials. The 1991 budget for travel to Hawaii alone by top SDI
officials was $118,817, which included posh Maui hotel stays when
adequate military VIP lodging was available."
-
NMD sets up a "U.S. Space Command" to
control "the space dimension of military operations to protect
U.S. interests and investment." The Pentagon wants to deploy
the space-based laser as the early "follow-on" technology to
missile defense. The space-based laser would be used to knock out
other countries' satellites, giving the U.S. Space Command
"control and domination" of space.
-
The development of nuclear space technology
creates hazardous working conditions on earth. A March 16, 2000
plutonium accident at Los Alamos National Laboratory exposed six
employees to potentially deadly doses of radiation. "There is an
ethical issue that is always left out of these discussions, and that
is the health effects on the workers and the communities in just
making these weapons of mass destruction -- never mind the unthinkable
deployment of them," said New Mexico Green Carol Miller.
MORE INFORMATION:
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in
Space
http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/
search: dpol, fpol, evpol
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