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Star Wars Weapons Jeopardize the War on Terrorism
By Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret.
The World Trade Center is gone. The Pentagon is damaged. Thousands of Americans have died. We desperately need to find a way to make the American people secure from terrorist attack. And what are the president and Congress doing? Authorizing over 8 billion dollars for "Star Wars" -- an unworkable solution to a non-existent problem.
In March I went to Washington, D.C., and met with members of Congress. Our purpose was to plan a strategy for dealing with Bush's resurrection of a Reaganesque "Star Wars" system. The ICBM "threats" justifying the system are totally phony. The only real threat to the American people is terrorism, something "Star Wars" cannot help with (even if it works). No terrorist is going to use such a high-tech, costly, complex, visible, traceable means of delivery. The real threat, I maintained, was from airplanes, ships, trucks, cargo containers, and suitcases. I asked them to withhold funding from "Star Wars" until the Administration can show that they're doing something about the real threat to the people of this country. A valiant few have tried, but alas ... too few. "Star Wars" marches on, and the coming budget-busting war on terrorism is too much, too late.
The great irony is that, while "Star Wars" weapons are useless against terrorists (in fact useless as a defense of any kind), by increasing apparent U.S. military superiority and invulnerability, these weapons actually increase the fear and hatred of people in the developing nations toward our government and therefore increase the terrorist threat.
Our unilateral abrogation of the ABM Treaty to build offensive "Star Wars" weapons disguised as defense also will drive a wedge between us and our allies (to say nothing of Russia and China) –- just at the time when we need their cooperation against terrorism.
To make the American people secure, we most implement both short-term and long-term approaches to terrorism. In the short term, we need to protect this country from the terrorists who already hate us. In the long term, we need to avoid making more people hate us, so that existing terrorists are isolated and terrorism slowly dies out.
The short term problem is one of intelligence and internal security. This does not just mean the airlines. Pilots in the past were trained to cooperate with hijackers and negotiate later. Never again. Terrorists know they will never get in another cockpit ... this was a one time deal, and they made the most of it. Now they will try other things.
Smuggle bombs onto a cruise liner? Nukes on light aircraft? Sabotage a football stadium with a hundred thousand people in it? Poison water supplies? Who knows what else? We need a "red team" to think like terrorists and come up with possible scenarios so that they can be neutralized before they happen — not after. Improve intelligence. Track aliens on temporary visas. Freeze terrorist finances. But with all this, security will never be perfect. The long-term solution is to stop making new terrorists and render current ones impotent. That means avoiding indiscriminate retaliation. A massive strike which kills bin Laden will guarantee that thousands of new bin Ladens will rise up to take his place. We can have security or revenge -- not both.
Only one thing has ever ended a terror campaign -- denying the terrorist organization the support of the larger community it represents. And the only way to do that is to listen to and alleviate the legitimate grievances of the people. This will require a foreign policy less obnoxious to the people of the region and less dangerous to the American people. This does not mean abandoning Israel. But it may mean withholding financial and military support until they withdraw from settlements in occupied territory and return to 1967 borders.
It also means getting serious about conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy so that we are less dependent on oil sheiks. Then let Arab countries have leaders of their own choosing, not handpicked, CIA-installed dictators willing to cooperate with Western oil companies. Institute a Marshall Plan for development of the region. It would be less costly than the war currently being planned, and certainly less costly than the events of September 11th. It would also be cheaper than "Star Wars" weapons, and would actually contribute to the security of the American people rather than jeopardizing it.
Providing security against terrorism will be neither easy nor cheap. But it will be much easier and less expensive if we return "Star Wars" to a quiet research program such as I directed in the 1970s. The battle against terror must be waged with intelligence and realism, not jingoism and anger. The American people deserve real security. Let's get on with it.
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Dr. Bowman directed the "Star Wars" programs under Presidents Ford and Carter and flew 101 combat mission in Vietnam. He is president of the Institute for Space and Security Studies. His PhD is in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech.
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