James Carafano Responds to Josh Rogin
September 1st, 2010
The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano responds on The Daily Caller to an article written by Josh Rogin on the new START. An excerpt of his response:
“Josh Rogin took note when a major Tea Party group rallied against New START, the arms control treaty Obama signed with the Russians.
“He was right to pay attention. The Tea Parties have said little on defense issues. Some on the Left had high hopes, even as they trashed the Tea Parties, that the latter might actually join them in an effort to cut defense spending; bail on Afghanistan; and scale back on America’s overseas footprint.
“The arms-control Left was also probably hoping that Tea Party followers would become part of a bipartisan “anti-military” arms-control coalition.
“This hope appears dashed. Indeed, Liberty Central’s decision to oppose New START suggests that the Tea Partiers are part of the “peace through strength” coalition. In a related development, the First Coast Tea Party in Florida is hosting a screening of the pro-missile defense documentary “33 Minutes” on Sept. 7. These developments are big news.
“If Rogin had stuck to the story, rather than try to play arms-control expert, his piece may have been more accurate. He went on, however, to ridicule the anti-New Start argument, suggesting that the Tea Parties are out of their league and don’t know what they are talking about. The problem is, most of his “gotchas” are either misleading or just plain wrong.
“The Tea Parties are more right than Rogin…Rogin asserts that missile defense was never about defeating a Soviet/Russian nuclear strike. This is not quite right. The Reagan administration sought to couple missile defense and arms control in order to end the U.S.’s vulnerability to such a strike. While missile defense alone would not end this vulnerability, it was an essential part of Reagan’s ‘peace through strength’ policy. New START seeks to minimize the importance of missile defense and resurrect the old ‘Mutual Assured Destruction,’ or MAD, balance of terror — a policy that leaves the U.S. intentionally vulnerable to Russian missile strikes.”




