America’s Interests Preserved
The Senate placed America’s national security interest ahead of wishful thinking in its rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The treaty was anchored in two naive beliefs: 1) that countries will circumscribe their behavior to meet the terms of the agreements they sign; and 2) that America has to lead by example. Not so, said the Senate.
On the first point, countries cheat on agreements they sign. The Soviets cheated on the SALT & START treaties. Iraq is cheating on the terms of the Gulf War cease-fire.
The Senate placed America’s national security interest ahead of wishful thinking in its rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The treaty was anchored in two naive beliefs: 1) that countries will circumscribe their behavior to meet the terms of the agreements they sign; and 2) that America has to lead by example. Not so, said the Senate.
On the first point, countries cheat on agreements they sign. The Soviets cheated on the SALT & START treaties. Iraq is cheating on the terms of the Gulf War cease-fire. The Palestinians are cheating on Oslo, Gaza-Jericho, the Interim Agreement, Oslo II, the Hebron Accord, Wye, and the Sharmel-Sheikh agreement. North Korea cheats. China is cheating on nuclear exports to Pakistan. They all perceive some interest greater than adherence to signed agreements. There are also countries that refuse to sign agreements because they believe a) it isn’t in their national interest and b) their adversaries will sign and cheat.
All of these countries might be wrong in their beliefs – their real national interest might actually be better served by doing what America thinks they ought to. So what? With few exceptions, they do what THEY think they ought to. That’s why they are called “independent countries,” even if we wish they weren’t quite so independent of American interests.
What about the argument that America must lead by example? Well, we do, actually. We don’t starve our own people to fund the military as they do in North Korea, or drop chemical weapons on our own people as they did in Iraq, or conduct ethnic cleansing as they did in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, or conduct slave raids as they do in the Sudan. But that hasn’t stopped them. The bad guys don’t care about our example and the good guys don’t need it.
Having recognized the American national security interest as primary, how can Congress promote that interest? By building missile defenses and working to control the materials and technology countries need to produce weapons of mass destruction. Two immediate priorities for the Senate should be:
1. To modify or withdraw from the ABM Treaty. Having rejected the unverifiable and unenforceable CTBT, the Senate must free the US from a treaty that prohibits defending ourselves and our allies against what other countries do. Of course it would be better if North Korea didn’t shoot missiles in our direction over Japan, but since they clearly are doing it, we had better be prepared.
2. To appropriate funds and direct the rapid purchase of the Russian stockpile of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium, as provided for in a 1993 agreement, to help ensure that the stockpile is disposed of safely.