Rumsfeld: Missile defense tests halted
to avoid possible issues with treaty
By Lisa Burgess,
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials have canceled several tests of its developing
ballistic missile defense shield to avoid "bumping up" against the 1972
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday.
Testing was to include an exercise Wednesday in which an Aegis shipborne radar system
would attempt to track a simulated missile launch, and a similar test scheduled for Nov.
14, in which the Aegis was supposed to identify and follow the launch of a Titan II
rocket, Rumsfeld said.
"We have said that we will not violate the [ABM] treaty while it is in
force," Rumsfeld said Thursday. "It is possible that someone could raise an
issue because of ambiguities [the tests raise in light of the treaty’s principals],
and we do not want to get into that debate."
President George Bush has made deploying a national missile defense system the
centerpiece of his defense strategy, and the Pentagon has asked for $8.3 billion for the
system for 2002 — an increase of 57 percent over the previous year. But Russia has
vehemently opposed the program, claiming that testing and deploying such a system is a
direct violation of the ABM treaty.
The Bush administration says the ABM treaty between the United States and Russia is no
longer valid because one of the signatories, the Soviet Union, no longer exists, and it
has pledged to move forward with the missile defense program with or without Russian
cooperation.
That position caused great concern in the international community, especially in
Europe, where even NATO allies said the United States was on the brink of triggering a
global arms race.
Meanwhile, relations ebbed. At one point, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that
Russia will arm its long-range missiles with multiple nuclear warheads if the United
States ditches the ABM treaty and goes ahead with the shield.
Then came the terrorist strikes against the United States on Sept. 11.
Putin responded to the attacks with sympathy and pledged support for the war against
terrorism. The newly cordial atmosphere included the resumption of missile defense talks
between Putin and Bush.
The two will meet again in the United States in November, and their discussions will
include missile defense, Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld denied that the Pentagon’s decision to abort recent missile defense tests
were a reward for Russia’s cooperation in the campaign against terrorism.
"This is not a bone to anybody," Rumsfeld said. "We believe the
[discussions with Putin] are proceeding in a satisfactory way" and that the United
States will find a way to go ahead with its missile defense plans, either because Russia
agrees to drop the treaty, or because some kind of accommodation can be made.
In Afghanistan, U.S. forces struck about nine targets Wednesday, Air Force Gen. Richard
Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday.
About 80 aircraft were involved in the effort, including 65 tactical carrier-based
jets; six to 10 land-based strike aircraft, including AC-130 Spectre gunships; and
long-range bombers, Myers said.
Targets include about eight Taliban tanks that were hidden in wadis (ravines that flood
in rainy season) outside of Herat, in western Afghanistan, as well as strikes against
Taliban forces arrayed near the capital city of Kabul in order to ward off an invasion by
the Northern Alliance opposition group, Myers said.
Outside Kabul, Navy F-14 and F/A-18 fighter jets dropped explosives on one of the
Taliban’s "extensive maintenance complexes," Myers said.
The Air Force also continued its C-17 missions to deliver about 35,000 humanitarian
daily rations Wednesday, bringing the total number of meals dropped to 800,000, Myers
said.
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