START Gives Russia Tactical Edge

By Dick Morris & Eileen McGann

The Democratic Congress is trying to pull a fast one.

They are using their lame-duck majority — explicitly rejected by the voters of America — to compromise our national security by ratifying the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

The treaty limits the U.S. missile defenses and the preamble suggests that we would not engage in any new military technologies to thwart nuclear weapons. It also says we cannot convert any of our rockets into interceptors and it locks in about a 10,000-unit tactical nuclear warhead edge for the Russians. It reduces strategic warheads — where there is now rough parity — but not tactical ones where Russia has a huge advantage.

Why should we be rewarding Russia by relieving them of the expense of building new missiles and defense systems?

Had Reagan followed this line of liberal thinking, the Cold War would never have been won. Remember that Russia's economy is less than one-tenth the size of ours. So the best way to reduce their power is to make them divert spending into the military. That is the best way to accomplish our basic goal: to bring down a Russia increasingly focused on domination and replace it with a democratic nation that lives at peace with the world.

The vote on the treaty will take place soon.