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Inglis to Obama: No time to go wobbly on missile defense
(April 13, 2009)
Just back from a trip centered on countering terrorist financing, U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) has some advice for President Obama, "This is no time to go wobbly on missile defense."
Recalling British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's famous words uttered to President George H. W. Bush about enforcing embargoes against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 1990, Inglis said that a missile defense system is vital to the protection of America. "If the President is looking for fiscal and technological stimulus, what better way than to provide for the long-term security of the United States and peace-loving countries everywhere,” Inglis said.
Missile defense is an emerging technology of modern warfare that is increasingly critical to the defense of our nation and our allies. Obama’s proposed termination of the Airborne Laser program is particularly troubling because it would deprive us of the most promising defense against ballistic missiles in the “boost phase” (the stage when missiles are most vulnerable immediately after launch).
Secretary Robert Gates announced plans earlier this month to cut the Missile Defense Agency’s budget by $1.4 billion, throwing allies into confusion and halting progress on the shield concept. Meanwhile, communist North Korea, among the world’s most totalitarian regimes with a clear record of proliferation in the Middle East, is proceeding with its menacing plans for the development of missile technology, rocking the world with another test of those capabilities just last week.
"It's ironic that just before this two-week Congressional break and one week before North Korea's test firing, my colleague Jack Kingston (R-GA), a member of the Armed Services Committee who's particularly well briefed on the subject, told me of his great concern that the Administration would cut the missile defense program," Inglis said.
"In July 2008, I visited the Czech Republic, met with officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thanked them for their cooperation on a missile shield and encouraged them to submit the plan to their parliament for approval. They told us of Russia's aggressive campaign (including billboards in the Czech Republic) against the deployment of the missile shield. They told us of the risk that the Czech Republic was taking in working with the U.S. and against Russia,” Inglis said.
“We coaxed them out on the limb, and now the Obama Administration has chopped off the limb.”
In 1983, President Reagan first proposed missile defense as a means of saving lives and preventing war. He laid the groundwork for a technically ambitious program that would develop the capability to intercept and destroy intercontinental ballistic missiles in route. The Obama administration’s portrayal of its cuts to missile defense as “budget discipline” reminds us of Reagan’s question to the nation in a televised address in March 1983: “Isn’t it worth every investment necessary to free the world from the threat of nuclear war? We know it is.”
Poland also signed an agreement with the U.S. in August 2008 to implement a missile defense system in the face of Russian threats that such an action “cannot go unpunished.”
Inglis, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Science Committee, returned Saturday from a trip entered on combating terrorist financing.
In the course of the seven-day trip, Inglis joined Rep. Steve Lynch (D-MA) in a bipartisan mission to Syria, Israel (including Gaza), Morocco and India. Security concerns permitted only the announcement of the India leg of the trip.
Inglis and Lynch met with Syrian President Assad for over an hour, discussing the Middle East peace process and steps against extremist elements.
In a previous trip to Israel in July 2008 Inglis visited Sderot, a town in southern Israel that has taken hundreds of missiles launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza. This time Inglis and Lynch visited with Israeli government officials and later entered and toured Gaza, becoming only the third Congressional delegation to enter the territory since Hamas forcibly took control in June 2007. Inglis met with Catholic Relief Services and UN personnel, but refused to meet with Hamas because it does not recognize Israel and refuses to disavow violence.
In India, Inglis and Lynch visited four of the 10 sites attacked by 10 terrorists, staying in the Taj Hotel (one of the attack sites) in order to show support for India's efforts to protect itself against terrorists and to express appreciation for their cooperation with U.S. efforts to stem the flow of terrorist financing.
In Morocco, Inglis and Lynch met with Morocco and American personnel working on the interdiction of terrorist financing.