The Militant - July 2, 2001 -- Washington presses ahead on plans for missile shield

Vol.65/No.25 July 2, 2001

Washington presses ahead on plans for missile shield

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
In a meeting with NATO defense ministers June 7, U.S. secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld made clear to his European counterparts that the Pentagon intends to move as swiftly as possible to develop and deploy an antiballistic missile shield, even before testing of the system is completed. The meeting was part of a whirlwind tour of Europe in which Rumsfeld visited seven countries in seven days to explain Washington’s perspective that scrapping the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty was "inescapable."

"When you know they are going to build it no matter what, is it really worth the fight?" asked an official of the U.S.-dominated military alliance, as quoted by the New York Times. "I don’t think so," said the official, who is from an unnamed European country.

Meanwhile, NATO is moving ahead with plans to set up a missile shield, awarding two $13.5 million study contracts to a consortium led by the U.S. companies Lockheed Martin and Science Applications International. Like the system being projected by the Pentagon, NATO is "seeking what it called ‘a layered theatre missile’ defence system that could protect NATO forces by 2010," reports the Financial Times. "The studies will examine land, sea, and air-based systems."

The London-based daily quotes another unnamed diplomat from a European imperialist power who said, "We are trying to develop our own European Security and Defense policy. But if MD [U.S. missile defense] goes ahead, we will be beholden to the Americans for our security."

Related article:
Machinists union officials back U.S. rulers’ plans to deploy antiballistic missile system

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