DATE=7/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ANTI-MISSILE PROTEST (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-264170
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: Missile test set for sometime
between 10pm EDT Friday evening and 2am EDT Saturday
morning ///
INTRO: Pentagon plans to test the U-S National
Missile Defense, or anti-ballistic missile system,
Friday night are sparking protests from peace groups,
Nobel prize winning scientists and Russia's
government. V-O-A's Jim Randle reports.
TEXT: A top Russian military commander says the U-S
test may prompt nations to abandon existing nuclear
arms treaties and is "a step toward global nuclear
insecurity."
The stern warning came from Vladimir Yakovlev, head of
Russia's Strategic Rocket Force. (In a dispatch
carried by the Interfax news agency,) General Yakovlev
called the test "an outrageous" breach of the 1972
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, signed by Washington
and Moscow.
He said the such tests will lead to "nuclear anarchy,"
and prompt nuclear-armed states and those close to
developing nuclear weapons to build more and better
weapons, sparking an expensive and dangerous arms
race.
Meantime, at Vandenberg Air Force Base (in California)
where the target missile is to be launched, a series
of protests are keeping officials busy.
They say "unknown infiltrators" sneaked into the base
under cover of darkness Wednesday night, getting close
the launch site, and leaving a trail of stickers and
graffiti protesting the missile test.
A peace group called the "Vandenberg Action Coalition"
says it will keep sending people onto the base to stop
the test and draw media attention to their point of
view.
The environmental group Greenpeace says its ship
"Arctic Sunrise" has a similar mission as it heads for
an area of ocean near the base that officials have
closed for safety reasons.
Other protestors are making their opposition to the
test known by marching with anti-test signs at the
front gate of the air base.
The street protest follows a letter by 50 Nobel Prize
winning scientists who urged President Clinton not to
go forward with the missile defense.
Critics say the system is unproven and unlikely to
work, and will cost perhaps 60-billion dollars.
Supporters, including a bipartisan majority in the U-S
Congress, say North Korea or another so-called "state
of concern" could develop a missile that could hit the
United States by the year two-thousand-and-five.
Engineers say in order to build a missile shield to
meet that threat, the president will have to make a
decision in a few months on whether to build the
system. (Signed)
NEB/JR/ENE/JP
07-Jul-2000 13:29 PM EDT (07-Jul-2000 1729 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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