My Word for May 1, 2001

Guess what, kids...

We're back to talking about missile gaps.

I realize these discussions of who's got bigger missiles actually predates most people in the audience... but trust me... these discussions are relics, artifacts of the Cold War days when we actually thought we could protect ourselves from nuclear bombs with duck and cover.

Pres. Bush made the modest proposal today that the world's most technologically developed country... that's us... develop the means to knock down one or two missiles fired by a third world dictator who managed to save enough Zlotnies to hire an out-of-work soviet rocket scientist.

We are not talking about a superpower arms race.

But some senators are saying... whoa, we don't want to start a new arms race with Russia or China... and they're right. We don't.

But the idea that we should abide by a 1972 ABM treaty as if it were the Magna Carta...  is absurd. The only people around who even remember 1972 are me and old Donald Rumsfeld. Well, I exaggerate, but you get the point.

Look... we had to worry about nuclear destruction by the Soviet Union... that was a real force to be reckoned with, and no shame in that.

But whoever thinks we should cower before the mighty missiles of North Korea, Iraq, and Libya is nuts.

Of course we should build a missile defense against those rogue nations. It's either that or pre-emptive strikes, and now that Edward Teller and Dr. Strangelove are out of the debate, absolutely nobody wants pre-emptive strikes.

So here at the foreign relations desk of My Word ... We encourage the president to talk to the Russians, and the Chinese... sort this thing out. Build some missiles that will protect us from small guys with big ideas, and get down to real business... finding the bombers who can't afford missiles and use rented trucks to drive their bombs up to our front door.

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