And that delusion is that the United States can safeguard itself from attack by building a nuclear shield.

It's just not possible.

Leave aside the high technological hurdles. (So far, the Pentagon hasn't been able to successfully test the intercepts even when it knows the exact timing of the launch and the coordinates of the missile's flight path.)

Forget about the astronomical costs, which will far exceed the $60 billion that Clinton's modest missile defense was to cost. (Alistar Millar of the Fourth Freedom Forum says the pricetag might actually be closer to $600 billion.)

But that's not even the main deal.

The main deal is that missile defense makes us more vulnerable, not less so.

First of all, it does nothing to protect against chemical or biological weapons, which typically don't arrive via intercontinental ballistic missile.

And it does nothing to protect against so-called suitcase or backpack bombs.

Nor does it seem likely that one of those "states for whom terror and blackmail are a way of life," as Bush put it, would hurl a nuclear weapon at us via an ICBM, which comes with a return address on it. Whoever did that would face instant annihilation, and most dictators aren't suicidal.

But what missile defense will do is ignite a dangerous arms race, perhaps with Russia, but especially with China.

Note that Bush called Putin up and talked to him before the speech, but Bush didn't even bother to call Jiang Zemin.

China today has about 20 nuclear weapons that could hit the United States.

It knows that a successful missile shield could render this nuclear stockpile useless, so it will have the strongest incentive to increase its production of nuclear weapons.

Instead of a China with 20 nuclear weapons with single warheads, the United States could, in the years ahead, face a China with 200 nuclear weapons bearing multiple warheads.

How does that make us any safer?

Plus, once China starts expanding its nuclear arsenal, India will likely respond in kind. And once India builds up its nukes, so too will Pakistan.

How does that make the world any safer?

So why is the Pentagon pushing so hard for it?

First of all, the nuclear weapons labs and the armament companies stand to profit enormously from missile defense. That $600 billion is a mighty big hunk of cheese.

On January 30, The Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled, "Missile-Defense Contract Contest Begins for Lucrative Projects." The first sentence read: "The dash for missile-defense profits is on."

Some of the companies it listed include: Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Litton, Lockheed Martin, and TRW.

Secondly, missile defense fits in perfectly with the U.S. first-strike doctrine, which Washington has never repudiated.

"We want to be the aggressor," says Robert Bowman, president of the Institute for Space and Security Studies, based in Melbourne Beach, Florida. Bowman was director of advanced space programs development for the Air Force during the Ford and Carter Administrations.

"Star Wars has nothing to do with defense," he says. "It's about maintaining absolute military superiority by developing new offensive weapons in the guise of defense."

If the United States wanted to launch an attack on another nuclear power, it would strike first at that country's satellite and communications centers, as well as at that country's nuclear stockpile. Assuming that it failed to destroy all the opponent's nuclear weapons, the shield would be there to knock down the stragglers.

"We'd be putting up the shield after the sword has been thrust," explains Millar of the Fourth Freedom. "In Pentagon parlance, it's called 'cleaning up or mopping up the residual.' "

And thirdly, the Bush people are also interested in missile defense as a way of protecting Taiwan.

"Some missile defense advocates see China as the real threat," The Wall Street Journal noted in another article, this one on February 9. "Their biggest fear isn't of a direct attack but of nuclear blackmail, in which China might try to deter the U.S. from coming to the defense of Taiwan by threatening to attack American cities."

Bush, just a few days ago, made no bones about his determination to defend Taiwan. In this context, his missile defense speech must be rattling nerves more than ever in Beijing.

When Bush and others talk about the desire not to be "blackmailed," what they are really saying is that the United States should retain supremacy, that no other country should be able to do anything that the United States might perceive as being against its interests anywhere in the world.

That, fundamentally, is what Star Wars is about.

It's not missile defense; it's missile offense.

Copyright 2001 The Progressive, Madison, WI

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