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BUSH'S STAR WARS VISION THREATENS
GLOBAL SECURITY |
| Washington,
May 1, 2001 - President Bush's vision of an expanded missile defence system,
known as (son of) "Star Wars", threatens to ignite a new arms race and
jeopardise the global security he claims he wants to strengthen, Greenpeace
said. "Bush's Star Wars vision is itself a relic of the Cold War which he wants to leave behind. Yet it is just as dangerous and destabilising as any military initiative from that era," said Greenpeace disarmament campaigner William Peden. "If Bush truly wants to preserve 'peace for generations to come' he must abandon the Stars Wars programme and negotiate internationally to rid the world of nuclear weapons," Peden said. Greenpeace has mounted a major international campaign against the deployment of Star Wars and currently has its flagship the Rainbow Warrior at the Star Wars test site at the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. The campaign will focus on the UK and Denmark whose radar facilities are essential for the deployment of the US Star Wars missile system. "Reducing the US's massive nuclear arsenal is an international obligation and should not be used to secure European support for Star Wars," said Peden. "It is time for Europe to show leadership and to stop these dangerous plans to deploy Star Wars." While Bush has announced cuts in the number of nuclear weapons he is proposing an increase in the budget for the design, development and production of nuclear weapons by four and a half percent to USD$5,300 million. "The promised Bush cuts are part of a modernisation of the US nuclear arsenal with new, smaller and more usable weapons and not just a simple reduction in numbers," said Peden. "This move toward nuclear war fighting strategies is highly dangerous and makes a nonsense of Bush's claims that he is trying to make the world safer." Bush has made very clear that he has no interest in nuclear disarmament or in curbing nuclear proliferation. In his first one hundred days in office he has rejected ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear testing, chosen to discontinue talks with North Korea, spoken of withdrawing from the US/Russian Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), distanced himself from Russia and is taking an aggressive stance against China. "Bush cannot portray himself as a champion of world peace given his record over the last one hundred days," said Peden. "The longer he proceeds with the Star Wars programme and his pro-nuclear weapons policy, the closer the world will get to a new nuclear arms race rather than the destruction of nuclear arsenals that the end of the Cold War initially promised." For more information, please contact: - William Peden, Greenpeace International, +44 7801 212992 - Gordon Clark, Greenpeace USA, +1 202-2516295 - Andy Tait, Greenpeace UK, +44 7796-947-449 - Dan Hindsgaul, Greenpeace Nordic, +45 2810-9021 www.stopstarwars.org |
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