Jul 14 2006
President Bush is Right on Missile Defense
HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
DUNCAN HUNTER – CHAIRMAN
For Immediate Release: July 14, 2006 Contact: Josh Holly (202) 225-2539
President Bush is Right on Missile Defense
By: U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), chairman of the
Even in
’s July 4th launch of seven missiles, including one reportedly capable of reaching the western
Predictably, there was intense political opposition in
Most Americans probably aren’t interested in the verbosity of a typical treaty, which is understandable. But every American should be interested in what the ABM Treaty meant. The 1972 agreement between the and a long-defunct Soviet Union banned the defense of any city from missile attack—that is, all except one:
Even before the tragic 9/11 attack on
We might also applaud Sen. Biden’s prescience about Kim Jong-Il’s lack of interest in
Despite persistent Democrat attempts to slash missile funding over the last three decades, in the four years since the President pulled us out of the antiquated ABM treaty, we have developed the capacity to stop a small number of missiles. Republicans have provided $22 billion to fund the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Interceptor System and $6 billion for the Navy’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Seven out of eight Aegis intercept tests over the last three years have successfully stopped their targets, including the most recent test in late June. Just Wednesday, the Army’s Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense missile system (THAAD), a ground-based system targeting short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in the final stage of flight, successfully intercepted an incoming missile, THAAD’s third successful test since November.
However, we need to do more. In the coming days, I will work with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) to see what we can do in the final defense authorization bill to accelerate our ability to bring down an inbound missile.
When Ronald Reagan opposed Mikhail Gorbachev on this issue, he faced an adversary who was neither suicidal nor immune to reason. Today, it’s impossible—even for Democrats—to guess what someone like Kim Jong-Il might do the next time he wakes up. But we can look at what he did on July 4th, and we can ask ourselves: What sane man would ignore another’s continued belligerence when providing for the country’s defense?
It’s time Democrats stopped ignoring reality. It’s time they realize that when it comes to missile defense, President Bush is right.
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http://armedservices.house.gov/
Date | Title |
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7/14/06 | Current record |
7/7/06 | The National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2007: |