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DISARMING
AMERICA
The campaign for nuclear disarmament was directly linked to the
International Department of Specific Activities in the Kremlin, when
after World War II, the "Ban the Bomb" movement was born, because the
U.S. was the only country to have nuclear capabilities. The Soviet Union
organized and financed the World Peace Council, a well-known 'freeze'
group, to influence public opinion and government policy in
non-Communist countries. Their international headquarters was in
Helsinki, Finland, and local chapters had been established in 100
countries. The American branch was called the U.S. Peace Council, and
had offices in Washington, DC and New York City, They once sent a KGB
colonel to meet with a group of Congressmen in Washington, then boasted
about it.
On September 20, 1961, the United States and the Soviet Union announced
an agreement for general disarmament that included the disbanding of
military forces, dismantling of military bases, ceasing weapon
production, and eliminating all weapon stockpiles. However, no treaty
was signed, because they could never agree on all points. For instance,
Russia wanted the U.S. to dismantle all foreign bases and destroy
nuclear weapons, but this would have given Russia an edge in
conventional weapons. The Disarmament Committee of the United Nations,
composed of 18 members, also failed to come up with an adequate
agreement between the two countries.
President John F. Kennedy had promised to close the missile gap in order
to reestablish our military strength, but his Secretary of Defense,
Robert McNamara, wanted to allow our defense program to decline until
Russia was equal to us. In a speech on September 18, 1967, McNamara said
that our inventory of nuclear warheads was "greater than we had
originally planned and in fact more than we require." The move towards
unilateral disarmament began when McNamara announced that Russia
wouldn't sign an arms limitation agreement until they caught up to the
United States in strategic offensive weapons.
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) originated from the
discussions between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Prime
Minister Aleksei N. Kosygin, in 1967. These conferences developed into
the SALT I Agreement, which was signed by President Richard M. Nixon and
Soviet Premier Leonid I. Brezhnev in 1972. While the number of U.S.
strategic missiles had been frozen at the 1967 level, the Soviets had
continued to build, matching that amount in 1970. By 1972, Russia had a
3-2 advantage in the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles
(ICBM's).
SALT I was actually two agreements. The first was a treaty of indefinite
duration, restricting defensive anti-ballistic missiles (ABM's) to 200
on each side (reduced to 100 in a 1974 agreement). It also froze the
number of offensive missiles at the 1972 level for five years. With
Russia having 2,358 land and sea-based missiles, and the U.S. only
1,710, the Soviets were certainly getting the best part of that deal.
Submarine-based missiles were restricted by a complicated formula which
gave the Russians a numerical advantage, but was balanced by permitting
the U.S. more warheads for its reliable and more accurate missiles.
The second part of the agreement was a five-year pact limiting some
offensive strategic weapons, and the number of launchers for ICBM's
carrying nuclear warheads. It limited each side to 2 ABM installations,
totaling 200 missile launchers; one at the nation's capitol, and the
other would protect an offensive missile site (Grand Forks, North
Dakota). This stipulation was amended in 1974 to only one site in each
country.
SALT I was ratified by an 88-2 vote in the Senate, but the Jackson
Amendment stipulated that the next agreement was to be more equal. The
Agreement was to remain in effect until October 3, 1977.
On November 24, 1974, President Gerald R. Ford and Brezhnev reached an
agreement to limit the number of all offensive strategic weapons and
delivery systems until December 31, 1985.
SALT II was a treaty that resulted from a second round of talks, and was
signed by President Jimmy Carter and Brezhnev on June 18, 1979, and was
to remain in effect until 1985. It limited each side to 2,400 ICBM
launchers and long range bombers, within six months of ratification (by
the end of 1981, a new limit of 2,250 was to take effect). It would
allow each country to develop one new missile, and to modernize their
existing weaponry, with certain limitations. Each side would be expected
to verify the other's compliance by its own surveillance methods.
Regardless of the many stipulations, it still did not meet the
requirements of the Jackson Equality Amendment. The numbers were
manipulated to make them appear equal. For example, in the count of U.S.
Strategic Weapons, 100 B-52's (a heavy bomber capable of hitting speeds
of 650 mph, altitudes of 50,000 ft., and has air-launched missiles and
bombs which can hit several targets hundreds of miles apart) that were
mothballed in a graveyard in Arizona, were included, even though it
would take more than a year to get them all flying again. However, 150
of the new Russian 'Backfire' bombers were not counted.
A prominent general stated: "If SALT II is passed, we are in the final
1000 days of history."
The Senate never ratified SALT II, because the Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan; however, the U.S. adhered to it, but not Russia.
Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force
Lieutenant General John S. Pustay said that the Russians, for years,
have continued to "out-man, out-gun, out-build ... us in most meaningful
military categories." The Soviets had outspent us in a display of
armament and mobilization that had not occurred since Hitler's
preparations for World War II. According to 1991 statistics, Russia's
defense spending was 8% (down from 11-13% in the late 1970's) of their
Gross National Product, while ours was only 5.7% (down from 6.1% in the
late 1970's).
If their military escalation wasn't an indication of their intentions,
then the capabilities of their civil defense program should have been.
Retired Air Force General G. J. Keegan, Jr. said: "The Soviets have
deployed and developed the most intensive system of nuclear shelter for
its military leadership, its civilian leadership, its industrial factory
workers, and its civilian population ever deployed or built in history."
New housing construction included mandatory underground shelters. They
have built 1,575 huge underground command posts, each the size of the
White House, embedded in the earth up to 400 feet deep, and covered by
75 feet of reinforced concrete. They have protected water, power
generators, and communications systems. The Pentagon estimated that each
post cost about $500 million. In the event of a nuclear exchange, it is
believed that a large part of the Russian population would survive.
Meanwhile, the United States Government has literally abandoned its
civil defense program, in lieu of the "Continuity of Government" plan
developed by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).
There are said to be as many as 96 underground facilities throughout
Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina that
will house government officials in case of an impending nuclear
incident. The most prolific is a highly classified underground city,
with a subterranean lake for drinking water, 40 miles east of
Washington, DC, in the Appalachian foothills, known as Mount Weather. It
has streets, sidewalks, offices, houses, and a medical facility. It will
house federal government officials, and contain all records on its
computers, such as census, Social Security, and IRS information.
Civilians will be left to seek out the 235,000 buildings designated as
fall-out shelters. In addition, the Defense Department's Civil Defense
Preparedness Agency (DCPA) indicates that there is the potential for
sheltering 50 million people in mines. Nevertheless, if a nuclear
exchange were to occur today, the best estimates are that 160,000,000
Americans would die, but only 5,000,000 Russians.
The Russians have 100 times as many radar detectors than we have, and on
top of that, Air Force experts once said that the U.S. Radar System is
so inferior, that Russia could sneak in as many as 50 bombers through
its holes, in a surprise attack.
Phyllis Schlafly and Chester Ward wrote in Kissinger on the Couch:
"Every single key provision of both SALT agreements originated with
Soviet strategic experts and planners in the Kremlin, approved by Leonid
Brezhnev and his closest associates in the Politburo, and was passed by
Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin to Henry Kissinger, who then
provided the rationalization for it and 'sold' it to President Nixon."
In the book, An Analysis of SALT II, compiled by Congress, it states:
"In short, the Soviets will soon have a 'first strike capability'
authorized by SALT. And when that capability is in hand, Soviet leaders
may logically presume that the U.S. would not retaliate after a first
strike ... Soviet leaders could reason that a U.S. President would not
order a retaliation, knowing that his few surviving weapons could not
annihilate Soviet society; and that a counterstrike by Soviet
second-strike weapons would, in fact, utterly destroy the U.S. as a
viable society ... The fact is that after a first strike, the Soviets
would have more missiles and bombers in reserve for the second strike
that the U.S. had to start with."
Despite this knowledge, disarmament has continued. Carter canceled plans
for the production of the B-1 Strategic bomber, which was to be built by
Rockwell International, General Electric, and the Boeing Co. The B-1 was
to replace the obsolete B-52, and would have the capability of evading
Soviet radar detection because of its ability to fly at high speeds, at
low altitudes; and twice the speed of sound at higher altitudes. They
would be able to carry a weapons payload twice the amount of the B-52,
including 24 SRAM's (short-range attack missiles) inside its body, and
eight on its wings. Internally, it can carry 75,000 pounds of
conventional bombs, in addition to 40,000 externally. Its take-off
distance is half that of the B-52, giving it access to more areas.
Since 1961, about 1,000 of our B-57 strategic bombers have been phased
out, and the supersonic B-58's were deactivated in 1970.
The Russians, however, produced their delta-wing supersonic 'Backfire'
bomber, which has a maximum range of over 5,000 miles, and can travel
1,500 mph. This means that they can be launched from bases in the
Siberia, can cross the United States to refuel in Cuba, or somewhere
else in Latin America. They were not covered by SALT.
Also, not included in SALT, were Russia's mobilized ICBM's. They can be
hidden, and there is no way to keep track of how many they have, The
U.S. had planned to have 200 MX missiles, each armed with ten nuclear
warheads, hidden throughout 4,600 shelters in the obscure valleys of
Nevada and Utah, which could be moved periodically, so that Russian spy
satellites couldn't pinpoint their exact location. It would have taken
two Russian missiles at each site to be sure of neutralizing it, which
is more than they have. This would give the U.S. time to retaliate with
stationery missile silos. The MX system, with its 2,000 warheads, would
have the capability of devastating the Soviet Union. The idea for the MX
was opposed, and dropped from consideration.
Soviet fixed silos are designed to refire, ours are not; and they have
at least 1,000 extra missiles for refiring. They also have larger
missiles, giving them a 6-1 advantage in firepower.
The Soviet's SS-9 Scarp Rocket can lift five times the load that the
U.S.'s LGM-30 G Minuteman missile (which has 3 MIRV warheads) can, and
hurl a 35-kiloton multiple warhead close to 6,600 miles, enabling it to
destroy a group of U.S. ICBM silos. The SS-18 is so accurate, that at
the most, it would miss by only 400 yards. It can carry a 20-megaton
warhead, or three smaller warheads, each independently aimed. It can
even carry 14 one-megaton warheads, all of which could directed to
different locations, delivering enough explosive power to destroy a
large city. With a single warhead, the missile can travel 5,700 miles,
but only 4,700 with a multiple warhead. The SS-19, which is smaller, can
only carry six warheads. With their increased number of warheads, and
improved accuracies, the Pentagon indicated that Russia's SS-18 and
SS-19 missiles could destroy America's land-based missile force of 1,000
Minuteman and 54 Titans in a single barrage, giving them a first-strike
capability. Russia's biggest missile can carry 30 warheads, while our
largest can only carry three 1-megaton warheads. Keep in mind, Russia
also has many small missiles, such as the SS-20, a mobile multiple
warhead missile, with a range of over 5,000 miles, that would be
effective in taking out NATO ports and airfields, and with the addition
of a rocket booster, could reach the United States. It was not covered
by SALT. The Russians also developed the SS-24, a rail-mobile missile,
and the SS-25, a road-mobile missile.
In 1977, Brezhnev called for a joint renunciation of neutron weapons,
and in 1978, Carter said they wouldn't be produced. However, in 1981,
President Reagan made the decision to begin production of the Neutron
bomb, and Russia's edge in strategic weapons didn't seem that important
after this addition to our nuclear arsenal. The Lance missile, and
eight-inch artillery shells in the U.S. were furnished with a radiation
enhanced warhead, which contained a radioactive isotope known as
tritium, that produces far more radiation, and far less explosion and
heat than conventional nuclear weapons. The result is that they kill
people, without that much damage to surrounding buildings. It was
designed to stop Russian tanks in Europe. The Tass News Agency in Russia
responded by saying: "It seems that the same cannibalistic instincts
prevail now in the White House by which in 1945 the then President
Truman was guided when ordering the use of atomic weapons."
America had an edge with the Navy's nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed
Polaris submarines. While at sea, they can't be detected, yet they can
track Russian subs because of their ultra-sensitive electronic
surveillance system. Knowing this, Russia stepped up the development of
their long-range missiles. The Polaris subs can fire 16 missiles (each
having ten warheads), in eight minutes to hit 160 targets, hundreds of
miles apart, from a location almost 3,000 miles away, The Soviets began
producing their larger Delta-class submarine, the Typhoon, which at
25,000-30,000 tons, is the world's largest. It carries 20 SLBM SS-N-20
intercontinental nuclear missiles, which have a range of 4,800 miles,
farther than ours. It is capable of striking any target in the United
States from protected Soviet waters. The Typhoon subs, built at
Severodvinsk, the world's largest submarine production yard, are
designed to operate under the Arctic Ocean ice cap. They also began
producing the Soviet submarines with torpedo-proof titanium hulls.
Even though Russia had more tanks than we did, the NATO force tanks, for
example, had about 193,000 anti-tank missiles, which was nine times the
number that was in the arsenal of the Warsaw Pact. They are accurate
from distances up to two miles away, which is outside the range of
Russia's tanks. However, Russia developed the T-80 tank, which has an
armor consisting of a honeycomb process which combines steel, ceramics,
and aluminum to create a substance that is three times stronger, yet
weighs little more.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Harold Brown,
Carter's Secretary of Defense, said: "The United States is not now
inferior to the Soviet Union in overall military strength." Yet, the
figures available during the SALT talks, indicated that Russia was
outspending us 3-1 for strategic arms, had a 2-1 advantage over us in
manpower, 2-1 advantage over us in offensive strategic weapons, 2-1 in
major surface combat ships and subs, 2-1 advantage in helicopter
production, a 3-1 advantage in nuclear-powered subs, a 4-1 advantage in
tanks and artillery, a 5-1 advantage in naval ships, a 5-1 edge in the
production of tanks and combat vehicles, a 6-1 edge in nuclear firepower
(megatonage) , a 7-1 advantage in artillery, a 10-1 advantage in fighter
bombers, a 47-1 advantage in defensive strategic weapons, and a 100-1
advantage in regular ammunition. Brown did admit, later, in January,
1979, that the Russian military was "potentially very dangerous to us."
The Soviet nuclear war plan, called the Red Integrated Strategic
Operations Plant (RISOP) by the Pentagon, is believed to include over
2,500 targets: 1,000 Minuteman and ICBM silos, 100 ICBM launch control
centers, and 50 command and control facilities and nuclear weapons
storage depots; 54 nuclear bomber and bomber dispersal bases and 3 naval
bases that service missile-firing submarines; 475 naval bases,
airfields, ports, terminals, camps, depots and other military
installations; 150 industrial production facilities that have Defense
Department contracts for $1 million or more a year in military
equipment; close to 325 electric power plants that generate nearly 70%
of the nation's electricity; about 150 oil refineries that produce about
70% of the country's petroleum products; about 200 'soft' targets
including economic communications, transportation, chemical, and
civilian leadership targets.
The propaganda put out by our government, painted this scenario: After a
massive surprise first strike by the Russians, at least 120 bombers, 17
Poseidon submarines, and 700 land-based ICBM's, totaling some 5,000
nuclear weapons would survive, and have the capability of destroying 80%
of Russia's industrial base and 90% of its military installations, other
than missile silos, killing between 20 and 95 million people, depending
on their civil defense preparedness. For some reason, the United States
government tried to disguise, and hide the fact, that we may no longer
be the most powerful nation on Earth. Not only are they hiding it, but
continue to make it worse with further plans for disarmament.
On December 8, 1987, Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev and President
Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which
was to eliminate all medium and short range nuclear missiles. It was
ratified, with conditions, by the Senate, on May 27, 1988.
At the time of SALT, out of 27 Summit Agreements with Russia, they had
broken or cheated on all but one, and that includes the Nuclear Test Ban
Treaty of 1962, the ABM Treaty of 1972, SALT I, and SALT II. They
cheated on the INF Treaty of 1989, and did not fully comply with the
Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty of 1991. Many wars or
confrontations since SALT I, had been started by, or influenced by
Russia in one way or another. They have been fought by their proxies,
satellite allies, or agents; countries protected by friendship treaties;
or they have used their veto power in the United Nations.
George Washington said: "The best way to insure peace is to be prepared
for war." At that time, we were not ready for war. Admiral Elmo R.
Zumwalt, former Navy Chief of Operations, said at the Australian Naval
Institute Seminar in February, 1979: "It is the professional judgment of
senior officials in the United States that our Navy has only a 35%
probability of winning a conventional naval war against the Soviet
Union. Our military knows this, and so does theirs. About the only
people who do not know it are the general public in the United States
and Australia. Nor do they know that a nuclear exchange in 1981 on
present trends would result in about 160 million dead in the United
States." England's Winston Spencer Churchill (nephew of the former Prime
Minister) said in a 1977 speech to a meeting of the National Association
of Freedom: "The Soviet build-up is far beyond any requirements of
self-defense, indeed the Soviets are building the greatest war machine
the world has ever seen. This is more than a challenge to the West- it
is the most deadly threat to freedom and to peace any generation has
ever known."
In December, 1979, over 50,000 Soviet soldiers moved into the country of
Afghanistan with tanks and helicopters; and by January, there were close
to 100,000 Russian troops in positions throughout the country. There
were reports that Soviet Army officers were arming and training Baluchi
tribesmen in southern Afghanistan, who had long sought their own
homeland. They live in the region covering parts of Afghanistan, Iran
and Pakistan, along the strategic coasts of the Arabia Sea and the Gulf
of Oman. Afghan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lieutenant Colonel Faiz
Mohammed Khan, a member of the pro-Moscow faction of the Afghan
Communist Party, said that Russia would take over the Baluchistan
section of Iran and Pakistan, which is all that separated them from the
Indian Ocean. It was believed that the intent of the Soviets, was to
gain access to the Ocean, where they would be able to control the Strait
of Hormuz, in the Arabian Sea, where much of the world's oil supply is
shipped from. Khan hinted, that since more than half of the students
that held our hostages in Iran were pro-Soviet Communists, the Russians
may have instigated the incident, hoping that it would escalate into a
full-blown confrontation, so that the Soviet Union could invoke a 1921
treaty with Iran that would give them a right to send in troops if their
southern border was threatened.
During the years when Hitler came to power in Nazi Germany, Russia made
the prediction: "We will take Iran. Not by direct intervention, but it
will fall into our hands like an overripe piece of fruit." An issue of
World Crisis (published by Kilbrittain Newspapers Ltd. of Dublin,
Ireland) reported during the early 1970's: "...Russia is planning a new
offensive in the Middle East. Our precise and categorical information is
that Russia plans to have totally taken over Southern Africa, all the
Middle East, and Western Europe by January 8-9, 1984." Alexander
Ginzburg, the exiled Russian human rights activist, said that America is
threatened by "expansionist Russian ambitions," but won't recognize the
danger until "it comes to Mexico or Canada." Thomas J. Watson, Jr., the
American Ambassador to Russia, told President Reagan: "I perceive the
world to be more dangerous than it has ever been in its history." The
January, 1981, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said: "We feel impelled
to record and emphasize the accelerating drift toward a disaster in
almost all realms of social activity, Accordingly, we have decided to
move the hands of the Bulletin's clock-symbol of the world's approach to
nuclear doomsday- from seven to four minutes (each minute represents a
year) before midnight (nuclear disaster)."
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