Kucinich says missile defense system won't work
Originally published by KTUU
Kucinich says missile defense system won't work
by Dan Fiorucci - Friday, June 3, 2005
The only presidential candidate to actually visit Alaska during the 2004 campaign is back in the 49th state this weekend.
Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is pushing what may well be a very unpopular position in a very pro-defense state. He argues that mid-course missile defense just won't work.
With six missiles at Fort Greely near Fairbanks, Alaska is currently the only state in the nation with a mid-course missile defense system that could actually be fired at an incoming warhead.
The question is: Would that system be able to intercept a long-range ICBM aimed at America? Speaking to about 100 people Friday night at Anchorage's Loussac Library, Kucinich said he's seen no evidence that it can.
It didn't take long to get into the topic of missiles in North Korea, missiles which are known to have a range just short of reaching Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
Kucinich argued that America is making itself less safe by using forceful language in its diplomatic dealings with North Korea. With more restrained language, he said, U.S. leaders could help de-escalate the threat presented by Kim Jong Il's nuclear weapons program.
"International relations aren't that difficult to understand," Kucinich said. "They're just like human relations."
Sen. Ted Stevens has gone on record as saying that Alaska's missile-defense system does make the nation at least a little safer from any missile threat from North Korea. "We have more protection now than we had before, with the missiles that are in place up there," he said in an interview in February.
But Kucinich contends that missile defense is misguided. "We stepped away from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty," he noted. "The national missile defense, so-called missile defense -- putting a shield with the footers out here in Alaska -- is just the beginning."
Kucinich said that missile defense, which so far has cost the United States some $80 billion, can be overcome by an enemy using cheap countermeasures.
Despite his disagreements with Republicans, Kucinich used the national symbol of the bald eagle to argue that Democrats and Republicans should not be hateful in their arguments with each other. "That American eagle needs two wings to fly. Not two right wings. Not two left wings. But it needs two wings to fly."
Kucinich also had another surprising announcement of direct concern to Alaskans. He came out against genetic engineering not just of crops but of salmon. He argued that experimentation with genetic engineering of salmon poses a threat to Alaskan wild salmon, because some will inevitably escape their pens and could contaminate wild stocks with their genetic material or even with disease.
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