Shimkus Protection Runs Thousands of Miles Too Far
U.S. Representative John Shimkus wasted no time in attempting to find political profit in the revelation of additional nuclear energy activities in Iran. Those activities had been known of by the U.S. government for years, but had not been publicly revealed.
Congressman Shimkus used the news to criticize those who question the wisdom of George W. Bush’s non-operational missile defense system. He asked the rhetorical question: “If the Obama administration believes that Iran has lied to the United States on nuclear weapons, why would we drop our defenses on the east coast?”
The thing is that, like many rhetorical questions, this one is includes unstated premises. First, there’s the idea that there are some sort of defenses on the east coast of the United States that somebody is proposing to eliminate. That’s not actually what’s taking place. The truth is that Shimkus is proposing something new when he suggests a missile defense system for the east coast of the United States.
Another unstated premise wrapped inside the question Shimkus asked is that Iran has the capability to strike the east coast of the United States. The truth is that Iran has no such capability. Iran’s most powerful missile can only reach Israel, a thousand miles from Iran. The east coast of the United States is almost another seven thousand miles beyond that.
There’s no way that Iran is going to be able to send a nuclear missile to strike the east coast of the United States. Representative Shimkus either knows that, and doesn’t care, or he just doesn’t know what he’s talking about. To suggest that the U.S. needs to create an anti-missile shield to protect Americans from Iran is just about the most ridiculous foreign policy I can imagine.
Where does this quote come from?
It comes from the Library of Congress online Congressional Record – searchable at thomas.loc.gov
It’s part of his speech given in the House of Representatives on September 25, 2009 entitled “SCRAPPING NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE”.
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2009_record&page=H9964&position=all