Cold War Deterrents 'No Longer Enough,' Bush Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2001 - President George W. Bush laid
out his intention to field a national missile defense
system in a speech May 1 at the National Defense University
here.

Cold War deterrents are "no longer enough" to maintain
peace, Bush said. "We need a new framework that allows us
to build missile defenses to counter the different threats
of today's world," he said. "To do so, we must move beyond
the constraints of the 30-year-old ABM treaty."

The U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty of 1972
limited the number of ballistic missiles each country could
maintain in an age of mutually assured destruction. Bush
believes the treaty doesn't reflect today's realities.

"No treaty that prevents us from addressing today's
threats, that prohibits us from pursuing promising
technology to defend ourselves, our friends and our allies
is in our interest or in the interest of world peace," he
said.

Bush said his defensive missile policy would also
"encourage still further cuts in nuclear weapons."

A new missile defense system is needed because challenges
to democracy and peace once presented by the Soviet Union
have been replaced by threats from several nations long
unfriendly to U.S. and allied interests, Bush said. These
nations have or seek nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons, he continued, and some already have the ballistic
missile technology to deliver them.

"A number of these countries are spreading these
technologies around the world," he added. "Most troubling
of all, the list of these countries includes some of the
world's least responsible states."

One of today's urgent threats to world peace is a small
number of missiles held by states in which terror and
blackmail are a way of life, he said.

"They seek weapons of mass destruction to intimidate their
neighbors and to keep the United States and other
responsible nations from helping allies and friends in
strategic parts of the world," Bush concluded.

Related Site of Interest:

President Bush Speaks at National Defense University,
May 1, 2001