LIADA Newsletter February 2002  

Sunday, May 19 10:30 AM

CELEBRATE Our 35th Anniversary

BID FAREWELL TO Bernie Bellush

Who is Leaving Long Island

Enjoy a Catered Brunch

ADA members - Free

Non-members - $15 (or join ADA)

At the waterfront home of Evelyn Weinstein

10 Romola Drive, Kings Point

(near main Great Neck library)

Surprise Guest Speakers!

For reservations call 516-487-4091

US To ABROGATE ABM TREATY

In a controversial but widely expected decision, President Bush gave formal notice of his intention to withdraw unilaterally from the Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. Six months after the announcement, the treaty will officially cease to bind the U.S. The military will then be free to aggressively pursue testing of a national missile defense (NMD).

Immediate Russian reaction was calm but disappointed. Top General Anatoly Kvashnin said the abrogation "will alter the nature of the international strategic balance in freeing the hands of a series of countries to restart an arms buildup."

The specter of a re-sparked global arms race frightens not only Russia, but our European allies and Asian nations. China is expected by some experts to attempt to stockpile a missile force large enough to overcome a missile defense shield. A Chinese buildup could trigger subsequent arms increases in India, Pakistan, Taiwan, and Iran, destabilizing the international system.

In the United States, many reacted in anger to the withdrawal. In a press statement, ADA accused the Bush administration of "reverting to unilateralism by ignoring the need for collective confrontation of common threats in an increasingly global society."

Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), furious with the legislative branch's lack of input in the ABM decision, claimed that "shutting Congress out of the decision making process involving agreements among nations is a dangerous and corrosive course of action."

Opposition to NMD stems from many sources beyond worries about an arms race. These include: the enormous amounts of taxpayer money missile defense will soak up; an American movement away from multilateralism, especially after the Bush administration's admirable coalition-building for the War on Terror; and, significantly, the body of evidence showing that a missile shield will never actually meet its goal of stopping enemy warheads.

PLEASE PAY YOUR DUES FOR 2002

Send your check of: $45 for single; $60 for family membership and $25 for limited income. Please mail check to: LONG ISLAND ADA . 44 South Dr., Great Neck, NY 11021.

AN OPEN LETTER To PRESIDENT BUSH

We are increasingly concerned by the actions of your administration that threaten our constitutional rights and undermine our trust in our government. Your order to create military tribunals outside the protections of our system of justice strikes at the very heart of the rule of law. It is deeply disturbing that you, having so zealously decried the evils of government that threatens the rights of the governed, should create that very threat. We ask that you promptly abolish these tribunals.

Unfortunately, these tribunals seem part of a pattern that denies both basic civil liberties and the openness that is an essential part of our nation. It is hard to believe that anyone can credit justice administered by a government that listens to the confidential conversations of the accused and their attorneys.

We have had in the past decades the unseemly spectacle of American presidents lying to us. Most recently we were treated to the revelation that former President Johnson believed we could not be victorious in Vietnam, but told us otherwise. We need the transparency that we can restore our confidence in our government's honesty. In this context, the decision to obstruct the release of presidential papers from the Reagan administration raises uncomfortable suspicions. Many members of your administration were active in that period covered by the Reagan papers. If they cannot take responsibility for their actions then, they should not be in government today.

Arnold and Ruth Silverman