Political Quotes

“I strongly support real steps to protect the American public from nuclear holocaust such as the de-alerting of nuclear weapons, the START process, the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. And the most significant obstacle to meaningful nuclear arms control right now is the National Missile Defense program, the sequel to President Reagan's Star Wars fantasy. The administration has told us that the decision on whether to deploy Star Wars II will be based on four criteria: the technical progress of the system, the cost, an assessment of the threat, and the impact of deployment on existing treaties, and arms control efforts. I believe in each of these areas, the evidence clearly leads to a decision to reject deployment. With respect to the impact of deployment on arms control, the proposed missile defense clearly violates the ABM treaty which is the foundation of real arms control efforts, including the START reductions. Deployment will also violate the spirit, if not the letter of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, particularly Article VI. Even our closest allies in Europe have voiced opposition to deployment.”