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Show The Daily Utah Chronicle, Wednesday, October 7, 1881 PagtTwttv ' Why do we pursue leg ofa dinosaur? ' ARC UxMfi NERVE GXb i AD PECE.NCY AND GE&M WARFARE? from page eleven h and development, our choice of our arms polity. Our rest-arweapons and our mode of deploy ing these weajjons aie still based upon these ideas. The most recent direction of our arms program has been to d portion of the Triad. Ron Lehman, of prop up the the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee, phrased it rather bluntly. "The No. I priority of this country is a new c SS-1- land-base- d land-base- land-base- d 9. SS-1- land-base- missile system." For theresidentsof L'tahand Nevada one prop, the MX is too well known. The rationale behind the MX was that the land-base- d missile would deter, survive and fit into the concept of the Triad. The argument ran that deterrence would be enhanced as a result of its increased firepower. 10 warheads compared to three in the existing Minuteman missile, and its sharply improved accuracy of within 100 feet of target. The increased survivability would havecome from plan of deployment. Finally, the sacrosanct d been preserved by a regeneration of its would have Triad leg. For the sake of debate. let's examine the argument from a different view. First of all. if deterrence is. as Webster definesit. "to discourage or prevent from acting," this new generation of missiles surely fails. If anything, it provokes; it does not deter. U ith iisincreased accuracy alone it would place in jeopardy 70 Mrcent of the Soviet nuclear force. This is hardly a situation that would promot deterrence. In fact, e'est vraiment au controire, the new missiles might have propel led the Soviets to launch their weajwns first out of fear of having them destroyed in their silos. But if deterrence "is the ability to fight and win a war." as George Schnester from the Department of Defense told our group in Washington, then he MX would have fit quite nicely. I, for one. do not believe that adding to the IMtanoia of the Soviets will add to deterrence. Can the leg of the Triad be made survivable as a result of building a new mode of deployment? Probably not. THEM The ate uracy of the new generation So iet missiles. SS-- 1 8 and gives them the ability to destroy missiles in their silos, whether they are MXor Minuteman; and the 30 to 40 warhead capability of the 8 (which would have been capped at 10 w ith Salt II) allows them to easily overwhelm or outbuild is there, as becomes evident from a statement by Gennadi Shishkiu. a foreign editor of the official Soviet news agency Tass: "A decisive technological edge will not come along this time, either. The Soviet I'nion has the resources to develop any arms on u hit h our foes may try to bank." The object of a Triad is to ensure the survivability of the majority of our strategic forces. This in itself seems a reasonable goal. But is it feasible if it restson a sacrosanct belief that it must include a fixed land-base- d system? As long as the Triad contains a large, fixed, portion, it will and vulnerable. the remain The accuracy power of the Soviet we pursue a leg stand will while not go away, or still, weapons of the Triad which has outlived its useful life. A more reasonable approach to prop the Triad would be to develop a truly flexible leg. What is needed isa weapon that can be based on land, in the sea or in the air. The cruise missile, a c small highly accurate missile with nuclear and conventional capability, fits just such a need. It also fits the four keys to our policy. It would deter because of the sheer numbers that could be quickly built and deployed, and it would become the most survivable weapon in our arsenal due to its high mobility and endless modes of deployment. This weajxjn holds three other strong points. First, it would not require a building project larger than the Panama Canal to deploy; second, its slow speed and small, ac curate warhead are not designed fot silo busting, so its nature is not provocative; third, it would become pointless for the Soviets to focus their attack on a highly mobile, easily hideable. quickly launched wcawu. As a result of these three trump cards, the chance of finding a new Grand Canyon in this country after a Soviet attack would disapMar. land-base- d sub-soni- Why then, when such a weaxn exists. do we put sue"a legof a dinosaur?" The answer is not very evident, but a suggestion can be offered. Any advancement in arms is based upon the lessons and experience of the Kist. As a result, a wcaons system thai has worked in the wsi is often presumed to work for the future. If this argument were true, we might still have Knights, calvalry and the Maginot Line. Since we know the fateof iheprecedingthrce. maylx it's t imetoqucstion the basis of a )olicy that is over 20 years old. Maylx it's lime to allow suc h a xlicy la mart naturelle. In my own view, the only legitimate puixse of any arms program is deterrence. If deterrence fails in a nuclear age. will the survivability of your own weajxms give you comfort if you . are one of the millionswhoare.orsiXHiwilllx-.deadPl.foronewill noi find comfoit in the afterlife knowing that millions of Russians. Germans. Japanese. French, etc. died with me or soon thereafter. Whether this "deterrence" takes the shajM of a Triad is not important. What is imxrtant is that we avoid a niulc.ii different aims ear af let yeat can holocaust. Pursuing new-anc only bring us loser to one too many ptmoc.ilions. one too many miscalculations or one too main wais. Ttuc dctctrcucc lies not in t lie ability of one side to fight and win a wai au;iinst its foe. but in neither side's ha ing the c apability to win sue h a i is sn uggle. If we have teat bed a parity, and most leave the we we that have, it's about lime way iliey arcthings ane! begin to look at mutually reducing (lie tension, rather than lw)th of us c limbing closer to the watershed, over whic li we are bound to fall. . Porter Webb is a 'Chromilr' columnist ami a political science major. 3 blocks west of SPAGHETTI VWREHOUSE Salt Palace IMSoitkSNWHl SdtUkt CHy. Utah Mill 521-724- 9 HOMEMADE ITALIAN FOOD Oct $2wofiif 31 Your favorite wines, your food bill mmi-bottl- avail- with purchase of dinner for two able at our State liquor Store. or more. Wed. & Thar. 5:C0 to 9:30 Fri. eft Set. to lfcCO 50 Offer Expires: ' 11 I 1 . 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