Arms race

The arms race

Bush Launches a Dangerous Space Policy [1-15-04]

Two leading experts on the space program are warning that the expected space policy announcement by George W. Bush to establish permanent bases on the moon and an aggressive program to take humans to Mars will be an expensive and dangerous undertaking.

Dr. Michio Kaku (Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Graduate Center, CUNY) and Bruce Gagnon (Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space) both have years of experience monitoring and writing about the space program and working to stop the use of nuclear power in space.

Presbyterian Washington Office, in line with previous GA actions, urges:

Voice Your Opposition to the U.S. Withdrawal from the ABM Treaty

[1-10-02]

Last week, President Bush announced that the United States will unilaterally pull out of the ABM Treaty. U.S. withdrawal from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty will not only hinder current and future arms reduction negotiations, it will also encourage other states to pursue nuclear weapon developments. Without the ABM Treaty, President Bush can now proceed unhindered with the development of a national missile defense (NMD) system.

Action:

Strong immediate opposition is needed to reverse President Bush's decision. There is a six-month interval before the U.S. is officially withdrawn from the treaty. Write a letter to President Bush asking him to rescind the decision to withdraw from the ABM Treaty. You can fax you letter c/o Dr. Condoleezza Rice at 202-456-9190.

Call the White House comment line at 202-456-6213 or e-mail President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov opposing U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty.

Contact your Senators and Representatives and voice your opposition to the withdrawal from the treaty.

Background:

The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union went into effect in 1972. The purpose was to restrict the development of national missile defense systems. The rationale was that if each side is vulnerable to attack, each would refrain from launching a first strike. This was part of the Cold War doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD). Since then the ABM Treaty has been a central part of the arms control structure that has restrained the deployment of nuclear weapons.

U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty will contribute to the collapse of the arms control structure without putting in place an alternative scheme. This will encourage Russia to maintain multi-warhead strategic missiles rather than eliminating them, as envisioned under the never ratified START II Treaty. Even if the U.S. arsenal is reduced to 1,700 to 2,200 warheads, as President Bush has proposed, and even if Russia matches this number, the MAD doctrine will still be in place and large numbers of missiles will be maintained under high alert. Therefore, the premise of the ABM Treaty remains valid.

President Bush wants to withdraw from the ABM Treaty to proceed with development of national missile defense. Such a system is illusory, unnecessary, wasteful and could start a new arms race. For further arguments against missile defense, see the letter to President Bush from religious leaders, and an article on National Missile Defense.

For more material from and about the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church, go to their web site.

Rhetoric Versus Reality: the Role of U.S. Arms Transfers in Human Rights Violations

[8-30-01]

The U.S. is the world's major supplier of arms - providing 54% of all weapons delivered to the world in 1999. While we proclaim loudly our commitment to human rights, our actions as weapons-supplier to the world make those claims look like major hypocrisy.

The World Policy Institute web site provides strong evidence for this in its posting of the testimony of William D. Hartung, Director of the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute at New School University. He spoke to the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, House International Relations Committee, on March 7, 2001.

Drawing on both government documents and non-governmental groups, he looks specifically at our dealings with Indonesia, Turkey, Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Urge Congress to limit military spending

from the UCC Justice and Peace Ministry, 7-16-01

[posted here 7-18-01]

The $1.3 billion tax cut signed into law earlier this year eliminated most of predicted federal budget surplus. Current efforts to create a new prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries has bipartisan congressional support and the encouragement of President Bush, but the specific proposals all assume there isn't enough money available for anything close to an adequate drug benefit.

Nonetheless, President Bush and some congressional leaders are now presenting plans for huge increases in military spending on missile defenses, the newest version of "Star Wars," and on other costly new weapons systems. These additional expenditures were not included in the military spending estimates used earlier this year to negotiate the tax cut. The proposed expenditures, whose estimates range from tens of millions to billions of dollars, will lead to cuts in domestic spending.

The United Church of Christ's General Synods have spoken against balancing the military budget on the back of the poor and the most vulnerable. The shalom God desires for our world is not simply the absence of war but the well-being of all people and the earth itself.

Please contact the President and your members of Congress and urge them to oppose increased military spending.

Capitol Hill Switchboard (202) 224-3121

This Weekly Message is sent by e-mail every Monday for use in church newsletters and bulletins the following Sunday. To add new names to this weekly advocacy service from the UCC Justice and Peace Ministry, for more information or to remove your name from the list, reply to jpmdc@ucc.org. For additional information on the UCC Justice and Peace Ministry, log onto the UCC website at www.ucc.org.