The “High Frontier” project, developed by a non-governmental group of military, intelligence and scientific leaders headed by Lt. Gen. Daniel O. Graham, USA (Ret.), is the bright hope to lead us out of the thicket of nuclear freeze agitation. High Frontier actually would DO something to prevent nuclear war and to save lives, whereas Nuclear Freeze is nothing but words without action.
High Frontier is a plan to put a platform in space that would fire projectiles to knock down any enemy missiles coming to attack us. What could be more important than a system to defend the American people against enemy attack?
The High Frontier system would deter war because it would make a potential enemy uncertain that his surprise attack could be successful. At present, in order to achieve a fatal blow to the United States, the Russians need only to target two warheads of current size and accuracy on every one of our ICBMs, and they would be reasonably sure of knocking out most of them. High Frontier would prevent most of these missiles from arriving on target.
In the unhappy event that war does occur, High Frontier would save millions of American lives. A Nuclear Freeze, on the other hand, does nothing whatsoever to protect Americans from enemy missiles; the Russians would still be left with their powerful arsenal of destructive nuclear weapons capable of killing a hundred million Americans.
High Frontier can’t kill anyone; it can’t threaten anyone. All it can kill is incoming missiles. It is an instrument of peace, not a weapon of war.
High Frontier is not nuclear. Therefore, all problems of fallout, environment, or compliance with SALT treaties become irrelevant.
The cost? High Frontier is cheaper than most other weapons systems currently discussed such as the MX racretrack High Frontier would be the most cost-efficient way of dealing with national defense and the budget.
High Frontier would result in all kinds of scientific and industrial benefits because it would take us onto the high ground of space — the new frontier of the future. It is estimated that High Frontier would produce some 200,000 new jobs in the space industry.
But what about the overkill problem; we already have enough bombs to kill everyone ten times over? That’s exactly why we need New Frontier. It is the only proposed system designed to protect us from nuclear weapons already built.
But what about proliferation; more than a dozen nations have nuclear weapons? Thatts proves exactly why an agreement with Russia is worthless. Even if the Russians keep their agreement with us on nuclear weapons (which, incidentally, they have never done before), that would have no effect on the use of nuclear weapons by Qaddafi, Castro, or any other international terrorist. We must protect the American people from incoming missiles no matter what country they originate from.
Do you really think the Russians would ever attack us with nuclear weapons? Nobody knows the sure answer to that question, but the Soviets said they plan to “bury” us, and they certainly have the capability of doing it.
Shouldn’t we engage in SALT, START, or other arms control negotiations? Yes, it’s useful to talk, just so long as you don’t get confused between the talking world and the real world. Stalin advised the Russians, “words must have no relation to actions.” Remember that the Japanese diplomats were in Washington, D.C., talking when the bombs were dropping on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Don’t you realize that “there would be no winners in a nuclear war; both sides would be losers”? Nobody knows for sure what form any future war would take; the only sensible way is for the United States to protect our citizens against whatever might happen.
The Nuclear Freeze mentality is based on the psychology of fear, inevitability, and despair. Nothing is inevitable except death and taxes. 4; President Franklin Roosevelt said so eloquently, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
America must rekindle the virtue of hope to replace the defeatism of despair. The “can-do” philosophy was what carved our great nation out of the wilderness, built the most powerful and prosperous nation in history, and even put a man on the moon. We have the wit and the wealth and the technology to defend America against any aggressor -and to make sure that we survive. High Frontier is the best way to start.
