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From: piet@mcvax.UUCP (Piet Beertema)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.followup
Subject: Re: Soviet Reaction to Pershings
Message-ID: <5535@mcvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 30-Nov-83 07:04:51 EST
Article-I.D.: mcvax.5535
Posted: Wed Nov 30 07:04:51 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Dec-83 22:51:27 EST
References: <399@reed.UUCP>
Organization: Math.Centre, Amsterdam
Lines: 48

Well, I most hartedly agree with this article. Just a correction:
the US are not going to deploy 572 Pershings-2 in West Germany, but
a total of 572 Pershings AND cruise missiles THROUGHOUT Europe.
Effectively this means the following:
- No European country will have any control over the actual use of
  these mass-destruction weapons.
- Germany will have nuclear arms on their territory; STILL they claim 
  they will stay a non-nuclear nation, because that are not THEIR arms!!!
  I don't know how you Americans call that, but we do have some words
  for it.
- The threat to the SU is immensely increased: the warning time for
  missiles launched in Germany has dropped to a few minutes for them,
  whereas the US still have a time of 15-20 minutes for a missile
  launched from the SU; the obvious result will be that they simply
  won't have time to find out whether a supposed attack from Europe
  is real or not: they just HAVE to launch their missiles in such case.
- World War III has been brought a giant step closer; we all know that
  the US once didn't hestitate to actually use nuclear bombs, but also
  on more than one occasion have actually considered using them again
  (Korea, Vietnam); the Soviet Union too knows that very well.
  Besides, why is it that the NATO still doesn't want to declare it
  will never be the first to use nuclear arms?
- In case of actual use of these US missiles, Europe is just as much
  endangered by them as the SU: especially all those failing cruise
  missiles will cause severe plutonium pollution.

Now if all of you Americans would look at the situation as indicated
in the original article, you would certainly understand why there is
such massive opposition in Europe against your missiles.
You would understand why the Peace Movement here in Europe is growing
and growing.
You would understand why in Britain a couple of thousand (UK and US!)
military and policemen are needed to keep a few hundred peace movement
women out of the Greenham Common base.
You would understand why those women stay there, even though their
government will give NO guarantee, that they will not SHOOT at them!!
You would understand why people that feel REALLY THREATENED, one day
will leave there attitude of non-violence; we all know what will be
the result of that.
You would understand what this war machine of yours is going to bring
on us: far worse than "The Day After" could show you.

I hope you WILL understand and make it clear to your President and his
Congress (yes, HIS Congress, it's just as war-minded as Reagan).
-- 
	Piet Beertema
	CWI (Center for Math. & Comp. Science), Amsterdam
	...{decvax,philabs}!mcvax!piet