Congressman Franks Addresses European Leaders at Missile Defense Conference in the Netherlands

 

Challenges Russia and Urges Cooperation in Deploying European Missile Defense Site

September 3, 2007 - Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) today gave the keynote address at an international conference in Maastricht, the Netherlands, during the Year 2007 Multinational Ballistic Missile Defense Conference.  The full text of his remarks follows below:

Thank you.

Ms. Morgan, thank you for such kind words. I am just so very grateful to be here.  The CODEL staff, Kari Bingen, Tim Coy and Major Mortensen have all done such an excellent job, and I have had a very enlightening and productive time traveling across the Czech Republic and Poland and meeting with both Majority and Opposition leaders related to the critical importance of the missile defense site to be built here in Europe.  I truly want to thank the A-I-A-A and the Missile Defense Agency and especially General Obering for this kind invitation.  General Obering, may I also just say a special word of thanks to you on behalf of so many of us here today for committing your life to the service of freedom and your fellow human beings.  The United States and the world are fortunate that men like you come along every once in a while.

I cannot tell you all what a profound honor it is for me to stand here among you on this the 20th anniversary of a Missile Defense conference that dates back to the Presidency of one Ronald Reagan.  As it happens, I could not even stand here as a Member of the United States Congress if it hadn't been for President Reagan.  Perhaps none of us would be here apart from his vision, that one day, the free world would find the means and the courage to protect humanity from stepping into the darkness of a nuclear nightmare.  God Bless Ronald Reagan and all those he loved.

I truly believe those of you here today are the invisible front line of freedom.  Your vital work on missile defense may play a profound role in the future of human liberty.  I am grateful for your genius, for your dedication and most of all for your passionate desire to protect human freedom.

Ever since that tragic day when mankind first took up arms against his fellow human beings, every offensive weapon has precipitated a defensive response.  The response to the spear was the shield.  The response to the sword was the suit of armor.  The response to mortars and artillery was the armored tank and each succeeding advancement in offensive weapons has brought a defensive response wherein mankind hopes to buy a little more time…

Many years ago, America and the free world faced a Soviet Union armed with a massive stockpile of such weapons along with a dedication to dominate the planet.

Because the free world had no other effective mechanism to deter an aggressive and nuclear armed Soviet Union, we adopted an ominous strategy of deterrence called Mutually Assured Destruction.

The equation was gravely simple. We would each place our security in the other's sanity. The Soviet Union knew if that they launched a major attack upon the West that obliterated our cities and annihilated our men, women, and children that our almost simultaneous counterattack would obliterate their cities and annihilate their men, women, and children.

Because such a scenario was so horrifying and repugnant to both sides, a grim deterrence was achieved, and mankind bought a little more time...

The strange irony about this today is that although the Soviet Union no longer exists and the Cold War seems to many a distant memory, the inescapable reality remains, that even in 2007, the deterrent equation of Mutually Assured Destruction continues to be a central component of humanity’s strategy to prevent nuclear attack.  Ladies and Gentlemen, in teenage terms that blows my mind.

We are 60 years into the nuclear age, and there is unbelievably still a debate on whether or not the nations of the world should develop a defensive response to these horrifying weapons.

However, in the dawn of this 21st century, two important things have changed.  First, we know now that missile defense is technologically possible to achieve.

Second, we now face a new paradigm of asymmetric threat in Jihadist terrorism.  Jihadists cut off men’s heads with hacksaws in front of a television camera while the victims scream for mercy. They are willing to kill themselves to be able to kill others. Osama bin Laden himself said, (QUOTE) “It is our religious duty to gain nuclear weapons." UNQUOTE

Unlike the Soviet threat, Jihadist terrorism is one that cannot be deterred by fear of retaliation.  Ladies and Gentlemen, it is an existential threat to human peace.

Iran is the world's largest financier and enabler of terrorism. Guided by religious fanaticism and a fundamental hatred for everything freedom embodies, Iran is determined to refashion the Middle East in its own radical image.

Its leaders blatantly deny the Holocaust and threaten to wipe our ally, Israel "off the map." They speak brazenly about a nuclear exchange with Israel in order to hasten an end-of-days scenario. President Ahmadinejad said to America and ultimately, to all the nations of the world on Iranian television, "And you, for your part, if you would like to have good relations with the Iranian nation in the future, recognize the Iranian nation's right. Recognize the Iranian nation's greatness. And bow down before the greatness of the Iranian nation and surrender. If you don't accept [to do this], the Iranian nation will later force you to surrender and bow down."

Do we trust such a man to have his finger on a button that could launch nuclear missiles aimed at our families?

And how would we negotiate with a nuclear Iran when their Jihadist ideology considers Armageddon a good thing?

The Missile Defense Agency has reported that Iran has tested current variations of medium-range ballistic missiles with ranges capable of threatening Eastern Europe, Israel, and allied bases in the Persian Gulf; and it could well have long-range missiles before 2015.  I just returned from Israel, and their own intelligence predicts that Iran could have nuclear weapons capability in less than three years.

An Iranian terrorist regime in possession of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles capable of reaching thousands of miles in every direction, including America, our friends and allies in Europe, and our forward-deployed-troops, represents one of the greatest threats to peace and the survival of freedom now facing the human family.

Missile defense is not only the last line of defense against a launched nuclear missile, it is our first line of defense against proliferation because it devalues such weapons as offensive military assets.

The free world must take every opportunity to remove both the capacity and the incentive for Iran to build or obtain nuclear weapons.  For if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons, our world reality changes, containing nuclear proliferation becomes almost hopeless, and therein lies the greatest danger of all because rogue regimes and terrorists the world over will then have access to these monstrous weapons..

The American government has determined that to meet this threat we must cooperatively deploy a European missile interceptor site with 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic. This would not be the ideal mechanism if the United States was only interested in defending our homeland; however it is the optimal location to protect the majority of Europe against intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles as well as to protect the United States from long-range missiles launched from the Middle East.

This system will be defensive in nature only, it will carry no explosive, and it provides no capability to defend against a Russian Federation strategic offensive. Its mission is to defend hundreds of thousands of innocent lives against ballistic missiles from the Middle East...Period.

The American government will continue to include NATO in our discussion surrounding the deployment of the missile defense site.  We intend to ensure that the system is interoperable with NATO defenses and complementary to NATO's focused efforts and investment in shorter range missile defense systems to effect a broader and more comprehensive protection for all NATO members.

The Czech Republic and Poland have stood so nobly against malignant tyranny in the past, they are standing with America today to defeat terrorism in the world and I believe they will be remembered in tomorrow’s history books and by coming generations for being courageous pioneers for missile defense in the world. And I want, at this moment, to thank them with all of my heart.

Building this missile defense system in and of itself will provide critical security benefits.  However, it is also an opportunity to expand our bonds of friendship and defense cooperation with key friends and allies.

During my travels throughout the Czech Republic and Poland in the last few days, many have asked about congressional budget cuts related to missile defense.

First, I know that the budget authorization and appropriations process in the United States Congress would give Albert Einstein brain damage to try to understand it.

However, let me put this in perspective, our budget is not yet final.  Of the $9.9 billion for missile defense requested by President Bush, 9.3 billion of that has been now authorized in the House and 9.6 billion is expected to be authorized in the Senate.

Of the $310 million requested by the President for the European missile defense site for fiscal year 2008, the House authorized $150 million and then appropriated $171 million. The Senate has recommended authorizing $225 million which will likely be increased in the Senate appropriations process.

European missile defense does have bipartisan support in Congress and is partially funded.  The radar and interceptors are fully funded-- However, it is politically and legally difficult for Congress to fund the actual construction of the site until the agreements are reached between America, the Czech Republic, and Poland.

There is no language in any of our defense bills limits construction.  In fact, the House Armed Services committee recognizes that the administration can seek additional funds for construction once the formal agreements have been reached.

I would encourage the US, the Czech Republic and Poland to finalize these agreements as soon as possible.  It would put pressure back on Congress to reprogram the necessary funds to complete the site construction efforts and it is my strong and unequivocal conviction that we will do just that.

Some of you may have met a few of the dissenting voices in Congress who propose technical alternatives that are no more than PowerPoint slides and have very significant cost, schedule and performance issues.  Their idea may to be to delay this effort in case a Democrat is elected in the next American presidential election.  Ladies and Gentlemen, if a Democrat is elected President in the United States, it is the end of the world and none of this will matter anyway.

Just kidding... the truth is that this missile defense system is important enough to America and the world and has enough congressional support that I believe even under a Democrat president, it would continue to go forward.

We must not delay something this critical to the future. America’s intelligence estimates that the Iranian nuclear missile threat is 7 or 8 years away…Israeli intelligence predicts it in less than half that time.

Moreover, our predictive time tables have often been wrong.  Both North Korea and Iran stunned the international community with the extent and rapidity of their development of missile capabilities. In 1998 the intelligence community said North Korea was years away from developing long range missiles, then on August 31, of that same year, North Korea launched a Taepodong-1 missile that landed between Japan and Hawaii. If the test had been successful, the North Koreans would have demonstrated an ability to hurl a 200 kilo warhead onto the shores of western United States.

I know that there is also the question of the continued influence and control that Russia wishes to have over many of the nations of Europe.  However my convictions are stronger than ever, after my visits to the Czech Republic and Poland, that the European site is an opportunity for the Czech and Polish leaders to make independent decisions and not be coerced by any country's saber rattling.

The United States has kept the Russian Federation informed of its plans to deploy the European interceptor and radar sites.  Again, it will be a purely defensive system, but it provides no capability of defending against the Russian Federation's strategic offensive.

I communicated to the Czechs and the Poles that America seeks no coercive influence over them.  We seek only the advancement of human freedom.

Consequently, I have both a message and a challenge for Russia.  My message is simply that, indeed, the Cold War is over.  This saber rattling is counterproductive and not helpful to these constructive efforts to increase our collective security.  The Russian people, along with the rest of the world, also face a future with the threat of nuclear Jihad. The European missile defense architecture, once integrated, will also provide increased defense for the citizens of Russia, and while the alternatives Russia has suggested are appreciated and complementary, they cannot replace the capabilities of the planned European site.

My challenge to the leaders and people of Russia is this: There was a time in history when America and Russia's predecessor, the Soviet Union, had a massive arms race and built thousands of missiles and nuclear warheads that have ever since cast a foreboding shadow of fear across humanity.

But times have changed.  It is now technologically possible to build systems to defend our citizens against nuclear missiles and therefore, to diminish their military and strategic value and, ultimately, their purpose for existence.

So, to Russia I would say, let us have another race, and let it be one of cooperation or of competition as you choose. Let us cooperate or compete to see whether both of us or which of us can develop the best missile defense systems to protect our own children and all of the children of the world from falling under the shadow of nuclear Jihad.

Let us together, turn Mutually Assured Destruction into Mutually Assured Survival for our children and our children's children.  This is my Challenge to Russia.

In conclusion, let me just say to all of you here today. The first purpose of any government or its leaders is to protect the lives and security of its innocent citizens. The failure of this responsibility renders all others meaningless.

Decades ago President Ronald Reagan had a vision for a defensive system which would, in effect, hit a bullet with a bullet in the sky to protect the innocent people in cities below and bring stability and security to the nations and peoples of the world.  We are now standing in the first light of a dawning day that will see that vision realized.

There may come a day that we must apologize to the American people and the citizens of our respective nations, for building an expensive missile defense system that we did not use. If it does, I will stand at the front of that line and humbly apologize.

But God save us all from the day when our children whether in Prague, Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen or New York City-are made to endure the unspeakable horror of a nuclear blast whether from Jihad or any other source, and we as leaders, have to apologize to those who remain for failing to pursue and build an effective global missile defense system when it was within our power to do so.

You know, Ronald Reagan, who I believe to be the political father of modern missile defense, spoke often of freedom.  He once said something that still applies to all of us here today.  He said, “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.  We can preserve this, the last best hope of mankind on earth for children.  Or we can sentence them to take that first step into a thousand years of darkness.  If we do fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us that we justified our brief moment here.  We did all that could be done".

May history judge this day as one in which our nations came together and did all that could be done to protect the innocent in our own generation and to buy future generations yet unborn, a little more time to walk in the sunlight of freedom. Thank you and God bless you all.

 

Congressman Franks is serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Readiness Subcommittee, Committee on the Judiciary, and is Ranking Member on the Constitution Subcommittee.