U.S. must build missile defense system,
Rumsfeld tells conference delegates

By Gregory Piatt
Stars and Stripes

MUNICH, Germany — Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Saturday the United States will go ahead with building a national missile defense system despite objections by Europe, Russia and China.

Speaking at the 37th Munich Conference on Security Policy, Rumsfeld called it a moral obligation for the United States to protect its people from missile attack, even though this issue has upset allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. However, he said he would consult with NATO allies before such a system was deployed.

“No U.S. president can responsibly say that his defense policy is calculated and designed to leave the American people undefended against threats that are known to exist,” Rumsfeld told the 400 people from around the world attending the first day of the two-day conference.

“Therefore, the United States intends to develop and deploy a missile defense designed to defend our people and our forces against a limited missile attack and is prepared to assist friends and allies threatened by missile attack.”

The yearly conference invites defense ministers, diplomats, analysts and high-level military officials to discuss European and Asian security problems. In past years, the United States has scolded allies that they need to technologically improve and streamline their militaries. This year was no different.

The U.S. proposal to build a national missile defense system, which would shoot down a limited number of long-range missiles with nuclear or biological warheads, was the hot topic on the agenda. While Russian and some European representatives questioned the U.S. intent to build the system, U.S. officials vowed to continue on the missile defense system while maintaining their commitment to NATO.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he is a strong supporter of NATO and he is concerned that the missile defense is dividing the alliance. But he still supports going forward with defense system.

“The concept of extended deterrence … remains a fundamental precept of American national security policy,” McCain said. “A national missile defense is not being considered in a vacuum.”

McCain added that a missile defense system would also benefit NATO members.

But some of those members are afraid that the missile defense will effectively destroy the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which they credit with helping to avoid a full-scale nuclear war.

Europeans are afraid this will create a nuclear arms race between China, which has a small nuclear force that might be neutralized by a missile defense system, and the United States.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said Europeans place great value on exchanging opinions with the Bush Administration on U.S. plans.

“I know this will be no easy task, but I feel it is particularly an important one,” Schröder said. “We must not ease our commitment to worldwide progress on arms control and disarmament.”

Schröder said, in remarks possibly directed as much at his Green Party political allies as the United States that the issue alone should not harm U.S.-European or U.S.-German relations.

“This is a big question, but it should not define German-American relations. I would hope also within Germany there would be a discussion that takes into consideration the entire breadth of German-American relations and not make the mistake of concentrating on this question alone.”

The Russians are afraid that a missile defense would stop any missile attack, allow the United States to strike first with its nuclear weapons without fear of a return attack and make the United States “the masters of the world.”

In comments to reporters aboard a plane on the way to the meeting, Rumsfeld said the Russians should not be concerned.

“That is to say, the idea that a missile defense system that is capable of dealing with handfuls [of missiles] is going to change in any way the interaction between the United States and Russia with respect to ballistic missiles is just not correct,” he told the Associated Press. “Anybody who looks at the situation knows that.”

In other words, Russia, with about 6,000 warheads, would still have too many weapons for a U.S. system to handle. Other countries with fewer weapons — such as China — might be a different matter.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who helped negotiate the ABM treaty, called the 1972 agreement outdated and not as important now as the Russians and Europeans think it is. He added that the discussion between NATO allies over the missile defense will be considered like a trip to the dentist, something that isn’t liked but has to be done.

The United States should stop describing the missile defense as something to defend against rogue states, such as Iraq, Iran or North Korea, but to defend against all missile attacks, Kissinger said.

“Any system should have the capability to defend against [a missile attack from] anybody — China, Russia and India,” Kissinger said.

Kissinger said he is sympathetic to Russian and Chinese concerns that it gives the United States a first-strike capability, but the system is mainly a defense against accidental launches, unauthorized launches and blackmail attempts by rogue states.

“If there would be an attack on a U.S. city, a president will ask whether more could have been done,” Kissinger said. “Total vulnerability [of the United States to missile attack] shouldn’t be the price the U.S. is asked to pay.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.