[news] Don't join missile shield, ex-officers advise Canada

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Vancouver Sun	  March 27, 2004

Don't join missile shield, ex-officers advise Canada

The system's unproven and too expensive, the former U.S. senior commanders
say

Sheldon Alberts

Washington -- A group of retired U.S. generals and admirals is warning
Canada to reject the Bush administration's proposed ballistic missile
defence shield, complaining that the program is both too expensive and
unproven to make it worthwhile.

The group, which includes a former chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of
staff, also wrote George W. Bush on Friday requesting that he postpone plans
to deploy the system later this year.

"Tell the Canadians to hold off -- don't waste their money," retired
lieutenant-general Robert Gard, a spokesman for 49 former senior American
officers who oppose the missile shield, said in an interview.

"If I were the Canadian prime minister, I would say: 'Look we are interested
if we find out whether or not it works. And so far, we don't know.'"

Canada opened formal negotiations in January with the U.S. Defence
Department aimed at reaching an agreement to participate in the national
missile defence (NMD) program.

The U.S. military plans to begin deploying land-based missile interceptors
in Alaska and California by this September, and has waived operational
testing requirements in order to meet the deadline.

Gard, a former president of the U.S. National Defence University, said U.S.
technology has repeatedly failed in tests.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon's senior space planner reported that
development of a key component of the missile shield -- aimed at detecting
enemy missile attacks -- was over budget and behind schedule.

The Space-Based Infrared System was "in a fluid situation right now," Air
Force Under Secretary Peter Teets said in testimony before Congress.

Gard said the missile shield's biggest drawback is that it cannot
distinguish between decoys and armed warheads, he said.

"The biggest flaw is its inability to track and discriminate," Gard said.

The U.S. president wants Congress to approve a $16-billion US budget for
missile defence this year, and the White House intends to spend in excess of
$50 billion US on the system over the next five years.

But in their letter to the president, the retired U.S. generals said the
U.S. faces a greater threat from poor security at nuclear weapons storage
facilities and from terrorists who may try to smuggle bombs into the country
and detonate them on American soil.

They urge Bush to "postpone operational deployment of the expensive and
untested" missile shield.

The savings should be used to "secure the multitude of facilities containing
nuclear weapons and materials, and to protect our ports and borders against
terrorists who may attempt to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the
United States," the letter says.

The letter was signed by retired admiral William Crowe, who served as
chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under presidents Ronald Reagan and
George H.W. Bush. Retired generals Joseph Hoar, the former head of U.S.
Central Command, and Alfred Hansen, former commander of the air force's
logistics command, were among the group of officers who also signed the
letter.

The U.S. Defence Department this month reported the missile system would not
be ready for operational testing "in the foreseeable future" and only two of
10 of the shield's key technologies have been declared workable.

The retired generals maintain that it is "highly unlikely" that a rogue
nation would target the U.S. for nuclear attack because American technology
allows the military to pinpoint the source of a ballistic missile launch.

Any country firing on the U.S. would be "risking annihilation from a
devastating U.S. retaliatory strike," the letter says.

"If the goal is to spend money to prevent weapons of mass destruction from
being delivered on this country, the far more likely contingency is
terrorists smuggling it into the country," said Gard.

Canada's possible participation in the U.S. system has produced fireworks
within the Liberal government.

Last month, 30 Liberals broke party ranks to support a Bloc Quebecois motion
to end negotiations with the U.S.

But Ottawa believes it can gain influence in North American defence planning
if the shield is deployed through Norad, the binational aerospace defence
command run jointly by Canada and the U.S.

CanWest News Service


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