Memories of Star Wars
The incomparable Herb Meyer reviews The Star Wars Enigma: Behind the cold war race for missile defense by Nigel Hey.
Mr. Meyer points out the argument which has raged over Reagan`s brilliant idea:
Hey provides a serious and even-handed analysis of the role Star Wars really played in ending the Cold War. One view, held by both American and Soviet cold warriors, is that SDI was nothing less than the proverbial bullet between the eyes that brought down the Soviet Union. (Here I must declare an interest. The official quoted as saying this is me. I was among those whose job it was to provide the President with intelligence about the impact of SDI on the Kremlin, and I am among those former officials Hey interviewed.) Another view, also held by both American and Soviet cold warriors, is that SDI played only a limited role in ending the Cold War.
Hey comes down squarely in the middle, which presumably is why he sees Star Wars as the enigma of his title: There is no way of measuring how much SDI contributed to the Soviet Unions fall. But SDI did contribute, and the Cold War did end peacefully.
I come down solidly on Herb`s side of the argument; at Reykjavik President Reagan refused to barter S.D.I. away, leading Mikhail Gorbachev to say ``we are finished`` after thdisintegratedntigrated. Why? Because Gorby knew his world-straddling slave labor camp could not compete in this realm, and that if his nuclear arsenal no longer could threaten the United States his system would implode. Soviet leaders (as tyrants often do) understood that theirs was a system which had to either expand or die, and that their people would only be willing to accept the terrible conditions under which they lived if there was the threat of an enemy. If the Soviet Union could no longer credibly challenge the U.S. it would collapse of it`s own weight-which it did!
The interesting thing about Star Wars was that it was entirely Reagan`s idea, and it supposedly shocked even his own aids when he proposed it. Reagan was truly a man of vision!
Mr. Meyer points out the argument which has raged over Reagan`s brilliant idea:
Hey provides a serious and even-handed analysis of the role Star Wars really played in ending the Cold War. One view, held by both American and Soviet cold warriors, is that SDI was nothing less than the proverbial bullet between the eyes that brought down the Soviet Union. (Here I must declare an interest. The official quoted as saying this is me. I was among those whose job it was to provide the President with intelligence about the impact of SDI on the Kremlin, and I am among those former officials Hey interviewed.) Another view, also held by both American and Soviet cold warriors, is that SDI played only a limited role in ending the Cold War.
Hey comes down squarely in the middle, which presumably is why he sees Star Wars as the enigma of his title: There is no way of measuring how much SDI contributed to the Soviet Unions fall. But SDI did contribute, and the Cold War did end peacefully.
I come down solidly on Herb`s side of the argument; at Reykjavik President Reagan refused to barter S.D.I. away, leading Mikhail Gorbachev to say ``we are finished`` after thdisintegratedntigrated. Why? Because Gorby knew his world-straddling slave labor camp could not compete in this realm, and that if his nuclear arsenal no longer could threaten the United States his system would implode. Soviet leaders (as tyrants often do) understood that theirs was a system which had to either expand or die, and that their people would only be willing to accept the terrible conditions under which they lived if there was the threat of an enemy. If the Soviet Union could no longer credibly challenge the U.S. it would collapse of it`s own weight-which it did!
The interesting thing about Star Wars was that it was entirely Reagan`s idea, and it supposedly shocked even his own aids when he proposed it. Reagan was truly a man of vision!
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 8:14 AM
2 Comments:
Thanks for linking this review, Tim. I've got to read this book, as Herb Meyer is quoted extensively, including many of the memos he sent on the Soviet Union's demise from that time. He was the only one who correctly forecast the Soviet's imminent demise. Oh, to have leaders like that again -- we could only dream. Sadly, it appears that the day of great leaders is past. There are none on the horizon that I can see. All are grubby politicians, looking to grab some power or influence and failing to see the long term.
Bush made a stab at the "vision thing" that his dad disdained, but his Wilsonian, some would say Quixotic idea of reverse dominos, that democratization will lead to a fever that transforms the Middle East is doomed to failure. Now he appears to have settled into the predictable formula of "diplomatic engagement" - i.e. doing nothing.
Iraq has been a disaster precisely because it has weakened us, and made it impossible for us to credibly engage in military actions for a long time, just as Vietnam did.
Yes, I fear you`re right. The only way America will be willing to fight in the manner necessary to win is if we suffer a much worse attack than 911, and it may be that the enemy is too smart to pull such a stunt. Otherwise it`s politics as usual while the enemy encroaches on us day after day.
What happened to the old America? The tough people who were kind but didn`t put up with anything? Perhaps Bin-Laden is right and we have become weak and decadent.
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