Bryen and Colbert in Defense News
Responding to a diatribe against Israel’s Arrow ATBM program published in “Defense News” (June 23-29), Shoshana Bryen and Him Colbert’s article “Arrow Benefits U.S., Israel” appeared in this week’s “Defense News” (July 7-13). The article, which makes the point that the U.S. considers Arrow a complementary part of American efforts at missile defense, not competition, reads, in part:
Responding to a diatribe against Israel’s Arrow ATBM program published in “Defense News” (June 23-29), Shoshana Bryen and Him Colbert’s article “Arrow Benefits U.S., Israel” appeared in this week’s “Defense News” (July 7-13). The article, which makes the point that the U.S. considers Arrow a complementary part of American efforts at missile defense, not competition, reads, in part:
“Arrow money comes from the U.S. defense budget because the U.S. defense establishment plans to benefit from the investment. The present and previous Directors of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization publicly have stated their interest in Arrow. Other security assistance to Israel, the majority of which Israel legally is required to spend in the United States, is contained in the foreign aid bill…
“The comment that Arrow’s ‘two successful test flights would not have occurred without U.S. technical input’ is utter nonsense. The U.S.-generated input that made the tests successful cannot be isolated any more than the Israeli-generated input that made them successful. The sine qua non of cooperative programs is that input merges to create success…
“Arrow is not the answer to America’s missile defense requirements but it corresponds to a threat facing us and/or our allies. The Iraqi Scud missile that fell on the Daharan barracks building during the Persian Gulf War killed 28 U.S. soldiers, the largest lethal incident of the war and resulting in nearly 25% of U.S. battle deaths.
“Every Middle Eastern country of concern to U.S. defense planners has Scud missile; many vastly improved since the Gulf War. Under the right political circumstances, Arrow even could serve as a defense system for the Persian Gulf oil fields, particularly if linked to the U.S. satellite information systems…
“Accusing Israel of fomenting regional unrest by pursuing the Arrow program is to assert that defenses are provocative by their nature… Iran and Syria are the only countries currently engaged in the acquisition of cruise missiles. Iraq never abandoned its quest for ballistic missile capability despite several years of post-Gulf War investigation by the UN. To suggest these countries are driven by Israel’s quest for defenses rather than their own offensive policies is to invert the problem faced not only by Israel, but by the United States and our friends and allies in the Gulf region…
“The rapid proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, coupled with the proliferation of technology for the building of delivery systems, probably is the most important security problem facing the United States as we end the century. The U.S. and Israel have found cooperation on Arrow to be in the interest of both nations and, as Arrow comes on line, the United States, Israel and their allies will be well-positioned to benefit.”