tiveness of the system. Also if the system is proven to be infective, then all the money that was spent on it is wasted. These are real concerns that many people have and in the past may have been worthwhile. For prior to 1999, there have been many failed tests for a national missile defense system. However in the past few years many tests have been successful. Missile Defense tests have gone very well over the past few years according to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. In California on August 31, 2001, the military launched a prototype 3- stage booster Rocket System. It is a Mid-defense, long-range ground-based interceptor system. Nine tests in the past year have been successful. The money that is being given to the missile Defense Organization is being well used. It is not going to waste and is proven in the success of the tests that have been conducted. There are many other arguments on why the System should be pushed, and will be pushed, despite it being a violation of the ABM treaty. "We should leave behind the constraints of an ABM Treaty that perpetuates a relationship based on distrust and mutual vulnerability," Bush said on a May 1 speech at the National Defense University here in Washington, D.C., and later remarked, "This treaty ignores the fundamental breakthroughs in technology during the last 30 years. It prohibits us from exploring all options for defending against the threats that face us, our allies and other countries. That's why we should work together to replace this treaty with a new framework that reflects a clear and clean break from the past, and especially from the adversarial legacy of the Cold War." This is a major issue that the President spoke on. Doing away with the ABS. It is unclear at this point in time if the senate plans on doing away with the treaty or revising it. Also, let one remember that this treaty was implemented when Russia was still the Soviet Union. It was a different...
