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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dwight E. Karlsen who wrote (39189)	3/18/1999 2:43:00 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 67261

Pretty good joke, Dwight. On the hallelujah front, I post this news: Senate Backs National Missile Defense By John Whitesides Mar 18 12:17am ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Wednesday overwhelmingly agreed to make it national policy to deploy a national missile defense system as soon as technology permits, heeding warnings of a growing vulnerability to attack. The bill, approved 97-3, would commit the United States to put in place a defense system against limited missile attack but does not specify a time frame, costs or system specifics. ``By this vote we have taken the necessary first step to protecting the United States from long-range ballistic missile attack,'' said Sen. Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican who sponsored the bill. Proponents had argued a growing threat of missile attack from so-called rogue nations made it crucial to end the Cold War-era debate on missile defense and begin steps toward actual deployment. ``The question of whether to deploy defenses against ballistic missiles has been a contentious and unresolved issue for over 40 years,'' said Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican. ``As a result, Americans are vulnerable to destruction by a missile attack on our soil.'' The House of Representatives Thursday will consider a similar bill. The White House dropped a veto threat against the bill Tuesday after the Senate adopted an amendment to ensure the policy would not jeopardize arms control talks with Russia. President Clinton, in a statement, also said he was pleased by Senate adoption of a Cochran amendment making the defense system subject to annual congressional budgeting. ``We are committed to meeting the growing danger that outlaw nations will develop and deploy long-range missiles that could deliver weapons of mass destruction against us and our allies,'' Clinton said. Democratic opponents fear the bill will undermine the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with the Soviet Union, which limits both sides' ability to deploy anti-missile systems. Russia says it will not carry out strategic arms cuts unless the ABM treaty is observed. Democrats want to protect the U.S. ability to negotiate changes to the ABM treaty if a system is deployed. But many in Congress said the treaty, formed when the world was dominated by two superpowers bound together by their nuclear deterrence policy, is outdated in a world where rogue states can launch a nuclear weapon. ``The Cold War is over, the threat we worry about now is not from Russia, but from rogue nations,'' Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, said. Supporters had pointed to recent missile tests by North Korea and Iran, along with reports of Chinese espionage at a U.S. nuclear weapons plant, as evidence of the need for such a system. A report last July by a panel chaired by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld found Washington might have ``little or no warning'' before its enemies deployed a ballistic missile, and that the threat was ``broader, more mature and evolving more rapidly than has been reported.'' ``This threat is real, it's growing, and we need to deploy an effective system as soon as possible,'' said Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. But the Pentagon's development of a missile defense has been halting, suffering numerous test failures in attempts to find a system to protect against a limited attack by a rogue nation or an accidental launch by another nuclear power. ``This isn't easy,'' Lieberman said. ``What we're trying to do here is develop a bullet that can hit another bullet.'' The administration has pledged $6.6 billion for developing a missile defense system in its fiscal 2000 budget, but will delay a presidential decision on building one until June 2000. Subsequent deployment of a missile defense would not come until at least 2005 -- not fast enough for most Republicans. Republicans identified the missile bill as a top priority. With defense looming as a campaign issue in 2000, Democrats wanted to avoid being seen as putting Americans at risk. Democratic Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois, Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont voted against the bill. ``The United States Senate, with this vote, is virtually giving a blank check to this project,'' Durbin said. ``It would give us a false sense of security and be completely ineffective.'' (Almost all Democrats voted for it, despite Schuh's derision of SDI. Maybe they know something he doesn't:-).)