‘Star Wars’ and World Peace

How appealing it is to image a “leakproof missile defense system,” an impenetrable shield to protect us from the horrors of nuclear weapons. Yet the truth is that we should be imagining an elaborate array of computers and lasers deployed in space, possibly including nuclear components.

The strategic defense initiative is a dream, a deception, for recent events (i.e. the Challenger, Chernobyl, Titan and Delta failures) have shown that established high-tech systems break down unexpectedly and tragically. In addition an array of hardware cannot be leakproof, can be deceived as radar was during World War II and is vulnerable to other weapons.

This “dream” is obscuring other initiatives which are available to us: the American people and our government. In the world of daily contacts we are aware that hostility evokes a hostile response, that threats are not the means to achieve a cooperative society. Let us lean on the hardware of communication rather than the hardware of weaponry. Let us fashion a shield from compromise, negotiation and agreement which will protect all the nations of the earth and bring the dream of peace to realization.

JANET V. KELBLEY

Palos Verdes