please pass on to as many people as you can that might act on this.

RE: BUSH ADMINISTRATION ABOUT TO SCRAP ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE (ABM) TREATY

Please write/Fax President Bush, US Senate, and ask them not to do so.
CONTAINS:
--Sample letter to Bush, Daschle, Biden, Levin
--Sample letter from PSR to Senators
--Talking points from IPPNW

Dear Everybody,

This is to urge you to write immediately to US President, George Bush who can be faxed at the numbers attatched to the enclosed sample letter, and to the US Senate leaders whose fax numbers are also at the head of the letter. Best is to adress the letter as below, or you can write separate letters to Bush and congressional leaders.

I suggest that you make sure you write also to your own member of Congress. if you are not from the US, DO write to Bush, Senator Tom Daschle, and Senator Joseph Biden as below.

Should you with to email your letter to the entire US Senate, a list of Senate emails is appended at the very end of this email. be aware that you will recieve a large number of meaningless autoresponses for up to a week after sending.

Time is short - the letter asa written is designed to be sent either before OR AFTER a decision has been announced. Do not be put off just because a decision has been announced.

You are urged to handwrite these letters rather than type them, and to use your own words as much as possible. Please do not copy what is here word for word.

Very simple, short letters (much shorter than these) are just fine.

Do let the leaders of the US know that you do not want the ABM treaty trashed.

John Hallam

Friends of the Earth Sydney

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH,
1-202-456-2461, 1-202-456-2883,

SENATOR TOM DASCHLE 1-202-224-7895

SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN, CHAIR, SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE 1-202-224-0 139

SENATOR CARL LEVIN, CHAIR, SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE 1-202-224-1388

Dear President Bush, Senator Tom Daschle, Senator Joseph Biden, and Senator Carl Levin,

I am writing as one of thousands of ordinary people, as well as non-governmental organizations and governments throughout the world who are horrified by your seemingly imminent decision to scrap the ABM treaty and deploy a system of Missile Defence.If, by the time this letter has reached you, you have already announced a decision to scrap the ABM treaty, I urge you to reconsider that decision.

If the terrible events of September 11th showed anything, it surely was that missile defence systems and nuclear weapons would have had no impact whatever on the security threat posed by terrorists.

At a time when the US must work with the broadest possible coalition of nations in the fight against terrorism, withdrawal from the ABM treaty sends a terrible signal to those whose help the US needs, particularly to Russia.

As the Russian ratification of the START-II nuclear weapons agreement was dependent on the ABM treaty remaining intact, the scrapping of the ABM treaty will mean that START-II also no longer exists.

Russia could well re-evaluate its recent agreement to reduce its nuclear arsenal to below 2000 warheads in the light of the elimination of the ABM treaty. Already, there are reports of voices in the Russian Duma calling for the fitting of multiple warheads on their heavy ICBMs. This would be hazardous for the American people and the people of the world.

The world as a whole does not need a system of missile defence.

What needs to be done in the immediate term, is to implement the cuts agreed to between you and President Putin at Crawford, and to take US and Russian strategic nuclear weapons off Launch-on-warning status.

What the nations and people of the world have demonstrated they want, over and over again in the votes of the UN General Assembly, is the total and unequivocal elimination of nuclear weapons as agreed in the last NPT Review conference.

I urge you not to scrap the ABM treaty, and to reconsider if you have already announced an intent to do so by the time you recieve this letter,

Yours Sincerely, (your signature)
 

ABM Treaty Withdrawal
Talking Points

According to recent press accounts, the Bush Administration is expected to give formal 6-month notice of its intention to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in the very near future. Below are some talking points on ABM withdrawal.

President Bush should not withdraw from the ABM Treaty. Such a unilateral action could negatively affect relations with our allies, could cause Russia to reconsider previous arms control agreements, and is an unnecessary risk.

Unilateralism in a Multilateral World

At a time in which we are working with a broad-based coalition of nations in the fight against terrorism, unilateral withdrawal from an international treaty sends a bad signal to the rest of the world. Now, more than ever, we should be working with the international community to confront global security threats, not walking away from our treaty obligations.

Russia

Withdrawal from the ABM Treaty could hurt our relations with Russia. While the Bush Administration should be praised for its past efforts to improve U.S.-Russian relations, withdrawing from the ABM Treaty could wipe out all of the progress we have made.

President Bush's decision on the ABM Treaty may cause Russia to re-evaluate its commitment to previous arms control agreements, including its recent statements on reducing its strategic nuclear arsenal to below 2,000 warheads.

If, by withdrawing from the ABM Treaty, we encourage Russia to maintain more warheads than they can safely manage, the American people will be less safe.

An Unnecessary Risk

Withdrawing from the ABM Treaty at this time is simply an unnecessary risk and won't get us any closer to a working National Missile Defense System.

The ABM Treaty does not keep the United States from continuing to research and test a missile defense system. In fact, the biggest impediments to a national missile defense system are unproven technologies and cost, not the ABM Treaty.

National missile defense--the last line of defense against a nuclear threat--should not be allowed to undercut the first line of defense, namely, the reduction of the threat itself.

No decision to deploy a missile defense system should be made until that system has been proven to be reliably effective against realistic threats, including countermeasures.
 

Text of letter to fax

Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Senator
The United States Senate
Washington DC 20510

Dear Senator

I ask you to urgently express support for the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. Together with other members and supporters of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR): doctors, nurses, public health professionals and others, I am urging your support for this vital Treaty. It has been key to the prevention of nuclear war for thirty years. President Bush has reportedly decided on unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty in the near future. Now is the time to speak out in opposition to such a move.

Opposing withdrawal, Senator Carl Levin said =93To rip up a treaty with Russia at this moment against the advice of our allies could have an unsettling effect on the whole coalition and the need to stick together against terrorism.=94 Further, Senator Joe Biden said =93Unilaterally abando= ning the ABM treaty would be a serious mistake. The administration has not offered any convincing rationale for why any missile defense test it may need to conduct would require walking away from a treaty that has helped keep the peace for the last 30 years.=94

A unilateral move to abandon this key Treaty would endanger Americans and reduce American security. The administration will be abandoning a key part of the structure of arms control, trashing yet another treaty and putting others including the Non-Proliferation Treaty at risk. This at a time when the risk of the spread of terrorist nuclear weapons has shown us we need all the non-proliferation tools available and more. This move risks all the arms reductions achieved to date. Russia has said it will aim new, more sophisticated weapons at the US even as their early warning system fails. Such a development would make the threat of an accidental launch more likely and more deadly. Deployment of NMD will likely spark a Chinese arms buildup, in numbers of warheads and in sophistication of delivery methods. This could cause a further arms race between India and Pakistan.

In short, the President will destroy the ABM Treaty to deploy a system that does not work, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. The President himself is increasing the proliferation threat we face, and thus the threat of a catastrophic nuclear war will increase. He is then telling America the world is dangerous and this justifies the deployment of NMD. This is truly politics through the looking glass. President Bush is moving ahead with a highly questionable and controversial policy at a time when he should be building unity in a nation at war. Please speak out for the preservation not just of the ABM treaty, but of all arms control and non-proliferation measures. Oppose the President=92s plan =96 tell him to stop and think= before it is too late.

Sincerely,
 

US SENATE EMAIL LIST

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