Political Quotes

“George P. Shultz recounts in his biography ``Turmoil and Triumph'' that SDI was President Reagan's own idea but that the plan was announced after a favorable endorsement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Then Secretary of State Shultz reports that when Lawrence Eagleburger informed him that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had told the President that a strategic defense system could be developed, the Secretary responded, ``The Chiefs are not equipped to make this kind of proposal. They are not scientists.'' Of course, when the scientists were consulted, it was concluded it could not be done. Finally, consideration must be given to the possible response of Russia to our actions. The original bill would have required us to abrogate the ABM Treaty. If we were to break the ABM Treaty unilaterally, it is clear that Russia would respond by rejecting START II. This amendment still proposes that if the Russians do not agree to modify the ABM Treaty to allow us to deploy a national missile defense system that consideration be given to United States withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. Russian nationalists would certainly be pleased if we would do so. My point is simply that the national missile defense system envisioned in this bill will only be effective against limited ballistic missile attacks. Limited is not defined, but it is unlikely that it might be referring to a capability of defending against 1,400 ballistic missiles launched simultaneously?”