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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: can.general,can.ai
Subject: Re: Star Wars North
Message-ID: <1491@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 29-Mar-85 17:47:10 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.1491
Posted: Fri Mar 29 17:47:10 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Mar-85 21:19:00 EST
References: <ubc-visi.890>
Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 24
Summary: 


I don't think it's the militarization of science that is the problem
with the SDI "offer".  In my view, militarization is necessary except
in an ideal world in which we have no need to worry about aggressors.
What bothers me about it is that it is aggressive militarization.  I
have worked for DND all my working life, and have felt that I have been
doing something useful, precisely because Canada's armed forces were
used always for what I believe to be good purposes -- mainly UN Peacekeeping.
I worry greatly about our getting tied into the US offensive military
buildup, and I don't know what my position would be if the Defence
Research labs got involved in Star Wars.

But you should make a clear distinction between the kind of anti-military
feeling that the US behaviour in VietNam induced and the need for the
kind of military role that Canada has played (and I hope will continue
to play).  We can do without the Americans running roughshod over the
world (and us, if we don't look after our own territory); we can't do
without our own military, much as most of us would like to.  And our
military needs the best that science can offer.
-- 

Martin Taylor
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