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Report: U.S. to drop from ABM treaty
©Associated Press WASHINGTON -- President Bush, eager to deploy a missile shield, will soon give Russia notice that the United States is withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Bush will announce the decision in the next several days, the news agency reported, citing four U.S. government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The 1972 ABM treaty includes a clause requiring the United States and Russia to give six months' notice before abandoning the pact. Initial White House plans called for announcing the decision Thursday, but officials cautioned that date could change. With the decision, Bush takes a big step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to develop and deploy an anti-missile system that he says will protect the United States, its allies and Russia from missiles fired by rogue nations. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., told CNN he was opposed to leaving the treaty. "It is not a good idea. It would be a real setback for defense and foreign policy to violate the ABM treaty." He added: "It's a slap in the face for many people who have committed years if not decades" to arms control. The president defended his push for a missile shield during a speech Tuesday at the Citadel in South Carolina. "For the good of peace, we're moving forward with an active program to determine what works and what does not work," Bush said. "In order to do so, we must move beyond the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a treaty that was written in a different era, for a different enemy. "America and our allies must not be bound to the past. We must be able to build the defenses we need against the enemies of the 21st century," he said. According to Bush administration officials, Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured Bush during their October talks in Washington and Crawford, Texas, that U.S.-Russian relations would not suffer even if Bush pulled out of the treaty. They said Bush's decision reflects a desire by the Pentagon to conduct tests in the next six months or so that would violate the treaty. Tests may be conducted on sea-based radars and missile interceptors, which could be fielded in combination with the land-based systems that the Pentagon has been testing for years and which are permitted under the treaty. The Pentagon later might test space-based missile defense technologies. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said that even after the administration gave notice of its intent to withdraw, the administration would be interested in continuing discussions with the Russians on an arrangement to replace the ABM treaty. If that produced agreement within six months, there would be no need for a formal withdrawal. The decision came as Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Moscow, said Russia and the United States are near agreement on cuts in long-range nuclear arsenals. What the treaty saysUnder the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the United States and Soviet Union agreed that each side may have only two ABM deployment areas, with the locations restricted so the systems cannot provide a nationwide defense or become the basis for developing one. Limits are also imposed on the type of ABM systems that may be deployed: sea-, air- and mobile land-based systems are disallowed. Both nations also agreed to limit qualitative improvement of ABM technology. The treaty allows either side to withdraw with six months' notice.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
