U Of Saskatchewan Rally Against BMD

Chinese and US analysts describe the system in the very same words: it is a "sword," not a "shield." And they are of course well aware that the US has a policy of first-use of nuclear weapons when it chooses. We know from declassified US records how the US reacted to a very small ABM system that the Russians constructed in 1968: by targeting it with advanced nuclear missiles to ensure that any defense would be instantly overwhelmed. Strategic analysts today warn that current US "missile-defense" plans will virtually impel the Russians to respond the same way, and will also provoke a Chinese reaction, since "the credibility of its nuclear retaliatory deterrent will be fundamentally challenged." We also know that the Russians -- and probably soon the Chinese -- are being driven to place their offensive military weapons on automated response. US systems, which regularly give false warnings, leave 3 minutes for human intervention to cancel a programmed nuclear attack. Russians systems are far less reliable, Chinese as well. It is "an accident waiting to happen," one leading US strategic analyst writes -- an accident that will bring biology's only experiment with higher intelligence to an inglorious end. If Canadians choose to contribute to likely destruction of the species, they should at least do it with eyes open, not under the illusion that they are defending themselves. Noam Chomsky [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on February 22, 2005]