missileThere are some seriously not-nice people in the world. Some of those not-nice people aren’t too fond of the United States. In fact, some of them even refer to the land of the free and the home of the brave as the Great Satan.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is one of those people. He claims that the United States has a dark record and has committed crimes against Iran. This is the same guy that rigged an election two years ago, sparking a riot that resulted in the death of civilians.

Iran hates, loathes, and despises Israel, one of America’s greatest allies. Ahmadinejad has said the Jewish State should be wiped off the map, and Iranian leaders have repeatedly refused to compromise in any way with the Israelis. 

Iran is in the process of developing long-range ballistic missiles, or Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). Despite nuclear and missile development bans set by the United Nations, Iran continues to disregard the rules. Bad guys don’t follow the rules. 

Whether it’s next week or in 10 years, Iran will develop weapons of mass destruction, capable of reaching not just Israel, but American soil. We need to stay 87 steps ahead of them to keep our citizens safe from an inevitable attack. One of the best ways to do that is to maintain a strong missile defense system.

If we can’t stop the bad guys from building missiles to attack us with, we can at least knock them out of the sky before they can harm us. Satellites detect rocket heat from the flying bombs, and counter-missiles are fired at them. The bomb explodes in outer space, lives are saved, and Americans stop bickering over partisan politics for a few days.

In order to strengthen our capabilities, President George W. Bush worked out a deal with Poland and the Czech Republic to build interception stations in their nations. This is an extra layer of defense that would greatly protect America’s Atlantic coast as well as our European friends. Both countries did this at great political risk to themselves, especially regarding their relationship with Russia.

In 2009, President Obama scrapped the plan, and in 2010 signed the New START Treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) with Russia. This treaty is an attempt to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world, but it ignores the cardinal rule of criminals: They don’t follow gun control rules. 

The New START Treaty makes us accountable to Russia on our missile defense options, and gives them a 10:1 advantage over us with their tactical nuclear weapons arsenal.

When it comes to protecting our citizens, it makes no sense to give another country the power to decide how many weapons of self-defense we’re allowed to have.

 

Image via The U.S. Army/Flickr