Two Roman Catholic Bishops, who went to Washington recently to testify against Reagan’s policies to defend the United States against the Soviet military arsenal, got their comeuppance in debate that day from Congressman Henry Hyde. Under Hyde’s skillful questioning, the Bishops said emphatically that they certainly would NOT “even hint at the possibility or the feasibility of unilateral disarmament or of maintaining anything except a strong defense.”
But it was the Kremlin’s own announcement only three days later which proved that the Bishops are off track in presuming to give advice about which weapons the United States should build. As eager devotees of the illusory goal called “arms control,” the Bishops solemnly said something very silly: “We use this Congressional testimony to call for a new effort of political will and creative diplomacy on behalf of a new round of superpower negotiations to reverse the arms race.”
Anybody who understands the Soviets knows that what brings about a new round of superpower arms talks is NOT “political will” or “creative diplomacy,” but our building better weapons than the Soviets have! The best way to get arms negotiations, the best way to bring the Soviets to the bargaining table, the best route to arms control, is to start building better space weapons than they have!
Just three days after the Bishops sounded off, the Soviets dramatically proposed a meeting with President Reagan to discuss limitations on anti-satellite weapons. Now, why do the Soviets want to talk about anti-satellite weapons? Is it because they want to help Ronald Reagan’s reelection by handing him a summit conference as a media event? Were they responding to the Catholic Bishops’ sermon about the horrors of nuclear war?
Obviously not. The reason the Soviets extended their sudden invitation — and said they will talk ONLY about anti-satellite weapons — is that on June 10 the United States proved that the antimissile system called High Frontier is realistic and feasible. Our military successfully intercepted an ICBM warhead in space using current technology.
That spectacular event, which received front-page news coverage all across America, proved that High Frontier (the space-based, non-nuclear system to defend America against incoming nuclear missiles) will work, and that we have the technology available. This event gave the lie to all the Helen Caldicott-type propagandists and pacifist scientists who have been saying “it won’t work.”
It is clear that High Frontier will work. On Sunday morning, June 10, a non-nuclear antimissile missile, fired from the Kwajalein Islands, sailed out into space over the South Pacific and intercepted a dummy warhead fired from a Minuteman I ICBM launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California.
So, now the Soviets want to talk. To paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, “it’s elementary, my dear Bishops.” It’s NOT “creative diplomacy” that makes the Soviets want to talk; it’s creative technology. The minute we start building “a better mousetrap” in space than they have, the Soviets are most happy to talk about “arms control” of the one weapon where we are ahead of them.
But they don’t want to talk about the weapons in which they are ahead. As a result of Freedom of Information requests badgering the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger confirmed last month that the Soviet Union now has 34,000 nuclear warheads for its bombers, long-range and medium-range missiles, whereas the United States has only 26,000. Weinberger confirmed that the Soviets passed the point of parity in 1978. But the Soviets don’t want to talk about that.
The June 10 intercept over the South Pacific demonstrated that the United States can defend ourselves against nuclear missiles, that we can do it soon with current technology, and that we can do it with a reasonable expenditure. This intercept proves that we need not wait decades and spend billions on a scientific research program to produce some sort of exotic “Star Wars” laser-beam solution.
Chernenko denounced the successful intercept in space as a “threat to all mankind.” The only thing it threatens is his chance to blackmail us with a credible threat of a nuclear attack.
If Messrs. Mondale, Hart and Jackson want to side with Chernenko on this issue, they will merely put one more nail in the coffin of Democratic Party prospects. Ronald Reagan and most of the American people want our nation defended, and High Frontier can do it.
