Commitment To Arms Control?
George Bush says we must "reduce the level of nuclear weapons through continuing arms control negotiations . . ."29/
But his record doesn't demonstrate a commitment to negotiated arms control...
Bush opposed the 1963 Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which ended the above-ground nuclear weapons testing that had been poisoning our atmosphere with radioactive fallout.30/ Bush currently opposes a US-Soviet Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty which would help stop the nuclear arms race by banning all underground nuclear testing.31/
George Bush says, "I will ban chemical and biological weapons from the face of the earth."32/
But his record says something different. . .
The US halted all production of nerve gas weapons in 1969. But on three separate occasions in 1983 and 1986, Bush cast tie-breaking Senate votes that committed the US to renewed production of the deadly gas for the first time in over a decade.
In a 1980 interview, George Bush spoke of winning a nuclear war. . .
Journalist Robert Scheer: Don't you reach a point with these strategic weapons where we can wipe each other out so many times and no one wants to use them or be willing to use them, that it really doesn't matter whether you're 10 percent or 2 percent lower or higher?
George Bush: Yes, if you believe there is no such thing as a winner in a nuclear war, that argument makes a little sense. I don't believe that.
Scheer: How do you win in a nuclear exchange?
Bush: You have survivability of command and control, survivability of industrial potential, protection of a percentage of your citizens, and you have a capability that inflicts more damage on the opposition than it can inflict upon you.33/
George Bush says, "The most important action we need to take on the budget deficit is to hold the line on taxing and spending."34/
But he doesn't believe in holding the line at the Pentagon. . .
I Bush says military spending "ought to keep going, and it will, go up.35/
He supports the budget-busting, trillion-dollar Star Wars program; two new
land-based missile systems, the NIX and Midgetman; and the modernization of
conventional forces in Europe which he acknowledges "will not he cheap."36/