INFORMATION SHEET ON THE
NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM (NMD)
produced by the Canadian Peace Alliance, May 2000
Canada may be on the verge of tying itself to a foolhardy US military program that threatens to reverse decades of disarmament efforts.
The US President is poised to approve a ballistic missile defence system. Like its predecessor, Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars," the ballistic missile defence (BMD) system aims to place a missile defence shield over North America. Like its predecessor, it is a destabilizing unilateral initiative. It threatens to set disarmament efforts back twenty years and to trigger a dangerous new arms race.
Fifteen years ago, the efforts of Canadian peace supporters kept the Canadian government from participating in Star Wars. Backed by thousands of Canadians, working alone and through citizen's organizations like the Canadian Peace Alliance, our government has taken some important steps to promote nuclear disarmament.
The Canadian government must be convinced to say no to the BMD system and a renewed yes to multilateral approaches to arms control and disarmament.
The US has made it clear that it wants formal Canadian support for the program. They want the BMD to operate under NORAD. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command, is the joint Canada-US system of radar and satellites that monitors the North American airspace for missiles and bomber attacks. With NORAD up for renewal in 2001, the US is putting enormous pressure on Canada to agree to make it the home of the BMD.
So far, Canada has yet to take an official position. Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy has publicly criticized the entire project. But Defence Minister Art Eggleton has refused to come out clearly against it, suggesting that if Canada denies the US request, military cooperation could be strained. Many believe that he is arguing for Canada's participation, or at least permission for the BMD to operate under NORAD, behind closed doors.
If Canada agrees to allow the BMD in NORAD, then whether or not we participate in the project, we will be tied to it. And our association with this dangerous initiative will hamper Canadian efforts to promote a multilateral approach to nuclear disarmament. Indeed, it will be more difficult to credibly criticize any US act of unilateralism. In short, all of Canada's efforts to promote disarmament could be in jeopardy.
In June, the US military will test the ballistic missile defence system for the third time. The two previous tests went poorly - one was a "success" but is believed to have been rigged. The other was an out and out failure: most of the 'anti-missiles' (which must detect and intercept missiles in the air) missed their targets.
Still, under strong pressure from the US Congress, which has extra leverage during an election year, President Clinton is expected to approve the program if the result of the test in June is even minimally successful. Clinton may sign before the end of the summer.
The flaws with the program don't stop with its technical shortcomings. The BMD's defence purpose is difficult to fathom. It is supposed to protect the US against nuclear attack from 'rogue states' like Iraq or North Korea, countries that do not currently have the technology to deliver nuclear bombs across continents that the system is designed to guard against. Thus the threat posed by these countries could be countered more effectively by other means. The alternatives would be far less expensive and less threatening to current arms control and disarmament efforts.
Indeed, peace supporters need to be most concerned about the program's implications for arms control and disarmament agreements.
The BMD proposal would also violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which forbids the US and Russia from developing a nation-wide missile defence system. The treaty has been essential to nuclear arms control for nearly two decades. Defence shields such as the proposed BMD system can spur an arms race, if opposing nations scramble to develop new weapons systems that can get through the shield.
Already, Russia's opposition to the new system is on record. They have said that they are unwilling to renegotiate the ABM treaty, as the US would like. China's opposition also has been made public, as has that of European NATO countries. Both consider the bilateral US-Russia ABM treaty to be essential to their own military security.
So the US has a great stake in gaining Canadian support, to keep from total international isolation. Their pressure on Canadian leaders has been very strong. The Canadian government needs to know that the majority of Canadians are behind a government decision to refuse to become involved in the BMD system.
The time is now for the Canadian government to tell the US that Canada will not participate in, or support, any BMD system. As Senator Douglas Roche told the Senate in February, "Every month that goes by without the Government speaking out firmly against participation in a ballistic missile defence system allows the US government to interpret our silence as tacit
consent."The Canadian government should instead put all its efforts behind the only nuclear strategy that will foster true human security in North America (and the world). The way forward is comprehensive negotiations leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons. The fifteen recommendations in Canada and the Nuclear Challenge, the report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, suggest concrete steps in that direction.
Now is the time for all peace supporters to persuade our government to take a courageous stand against this dangerous US initiative that threatens to set off a new arms race. Tomorrow could be too late.