Weldon Crusades

"What is the dollar amount of a city and whole Eastern Seaboard that can be wiped out in one minute?" asks the congressman
Flanked by two ballistic missiles parked in the lot at the Valley Forge Radisson Hotel, U.S. Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA), after delivering his keynote address at a missile defense conference he co-hosted last week, said that the United States and its allies face a growing missile threat as a result of missile proliferation, and weapons of mass destruction being tested, developed and deployed in 25 countries in the world.

"This two-day conference will assemble some of the most knowledgeable missile defense experts in the world," Weldon said. "Our discussions and testimony focuses on these emerging threats, technological capabilities, missile defense successes and treaty issues.

"Our discussions will finally give the public a fair and comprehensive view of what our country is up against and we will put to rest some of the misconceptions about missile defense as we educate America about the real-world threats we face in the 21st century," he said.
Joining Weldon for the two-day conference called "Defending the Northeast, the Nation and America's Allies from Ballistic Missile Attack" June 28 and 29 were two U.S. Army generals, two members of the British Parliament, scientists from MIT and other universities, journalists, a U.S. Navy admiral, and uniformed and civilian defense leaders. The conference was co-hosted by the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis.

Weldon, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, is the leading missile defense expert in the House. He authored legislation in 1999 that made it the policy of the United States to deploy an effective missile defense system. Weldon's measure passed both the House and the Senate by a veto-proof margin and was signed into law on July 22, 1999. Weldon, who is an expert in missile defense, missile technology and weapons proliferation, has been an outspoken advocate of deployment of a comprehensive missile shield for the U.S. and its allies.

Weldon said 70 nations in the world currently have medium and long-range missiles and 25 are building them. "Iran recently test-fired a new missile with a range of about 900 miles and is developing missiles capable of striking targets in Europe and much of the U.S., including the northeastern United States within the next 5 to 7 years," he said.

He said China is about to deploy a ballistic missile - a new generation ICBM - in addition to another missile, which can target all of the U.S.

North Korea, he said, is developing missiles capable of striking the U.S.

"What price do we put on the City of Philadelphia - what is the dollar amount of a city and the whole Eastern Seaboard that can be wiped out in one minute?" Weldon asked.

The obstacles to missile defense Weldon said is that the issue is more political than technological.

"We have conducted 31 tests of missile defense systems in the past 25 years, and though all haven't been successful, of the 31 tests only 16 times were the interceptor able to see the intended missile. Fifteen times we couldn't get the rockets off the ground correctly," he said. "If that is your reason to not move forward with missile defense, then you can argue that we should shut down our space program because it's the same technology used to launch our astronauts into outer space. Fifteen of 16 times we proved we could hit a bullet with a bullet."

Another obstacle, Weldon said, is the ABM Treaty, which prohibits deployment of space-based or sea-based missile defense or even land-based missile defense, in some cases - which he said is clearly inadequate for a robust missile defense system.

"The ABM treaty is a Cold War relic with the Soviet Union," he said. "A country that no longer exists."

Weldon said additional technology development and testing are needed, and at the present pace of development, if the U.S. does not move forward, the country will not have a missile defense in place before the end of the decade.

"The technology is at hand - the problem is integrating the systems to have the ability to do it successfully over and over again," he said.

He said that opponents say missile defense would bankrupt the budget, but that is not true.

"No more than 2 percent of the total defense budget is being spent on missile defense," Weldon said. "It's not too much to ask to protect against such a threat."

Several steps necessary for missile defense, Weldon said, are to begin initial deployment of a multi-tier layered missile defense in the next six months that can eventually protect the United States and its allies, inform Russia that the United States will withdraw from the ABM Treaty, structure an initial missile defense capability around 100 interceptors in Alaska with others to be elsewhere deployed as part of land-based missile defense and accelerate development of a sea-based missile defense capable of defending against ICBM threats.
The conference in King of Prussia is the first of 10 that Weldon will host in the United States, including one in Europe and one in Russia. "Our goal is to engage in factual discussions and educate people about our missile defense system and what is happening with our enemies in this area so that we can aggressively work to protect and defend the United States, our friends and allies throughout the world," Weldon said.

The Brandywine Peace Community held a small protest outside the Radisson an hour before Weldon's conference began. The group is against President George Bush's plans for "star wars" missile defense and militarization of space.

The Star Wars protesters - less than a dozen - held banners, signs and wore costumes and prayed, leaving shortly before the conference began at 2 p.m. Thursday.

The Brandywine Peace Community, which is located in Swarthmore, was founded in 1977 and has been focusing its peace efforts and nonviolent direct action on Lockheed Martin, which the community claims is the world's largest weapons-producing corporation since 1995.

©The Suburban and Wayne Times 2002