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WASHINGTON, July 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Riki Ellison, President and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy
Alliance (MDAA) www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org points out to the
membership of MDAA that Senator John McCain is now going along with
President Obama's position on the nation's missile defense program. This
position is in contrast to Senator McCain's remarks on missile defense
during the Presidential campaign. Ellison's remarks are as follows:
"The former Republican
nominee for President, current U.S. Senator from Arizona, and minority
Ranking Member on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain has
chosen in his current position not to challenge President Obama and this
administration on their reduction of funding and deployment of missile
defense, as he clearly stated and advocated for missile defense while
debating President Obama in front of the American public."
Senator McCain's presidential
campaign statement is as follows:
"John McCain strongly
supports the development and deployment of theater and national missile
defenses. Effective missile defenses are critical to protect America from
rogue regimes like North Korea that possess the capability to target
America with intercontinental ballistic missiles, from outlaw states like
Iran that threaten American forces and American allies with ballistic
missiles, and to hedge against potential threats from possible strategic
competitors like Russia and China. Effective missile defenses are also
necessary to allow American military forces to operate overseas without
being deterred by the threat of missile attack from a regional
adversary."
Senator McCain also stated in
a 2007 Republican Presidential debate:
"And the first thing I
would do is make sure that we have a missile defense system in place in
Czechoslovakia and Poland, and I don't care what his objections are to
it."
Senator McCain, while
recently in Tokyo, gave the following remarks regarding the April North
Korean missile test:
"I believe there is no
more compelling argument for missile defense capability than what just
happened with the North Korean launch."
Ellison explains that
"The United States Senate Armed Services Committee, which authorizes
the policies and the expenditures of all U.S. military programs, and is
chaired by Senator Carl Levin (MI) and co-chaired by Senator McCain, did
not authorize, add amendments, nor bring to a public vote by the whole
committee, subcommittee or to the floor of the U.S. Senate any requests to challenge
President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gate's position to reduce
our nation's only proven long-range missile defense that protects our
country from North Korea and from Iran by 32.5 percent as well as an
overall reduction of $1.2 billion dollars on missile defense
spending."
"In the current world
situation where our people and nation have been directly threatened by
long-range ballistic missiles tests from North Korea who demonstrated their
second nuclear weapon detonation this year. Furthermore, Iran's continued
advancement in ballistic missiles and determination to develop a nuclear
weapon is unabated. It is a failure of our American democracy that reflects
the American public through the U.S. Senate whose job it is to provide
checks and balances on the President of the United States, that not one
public vote to support or to challenge the missile defense budget cuts was
made by this committee and Senator McCain who campaigned in support of
missile defense."
"There is something
troubling to not have an issue of this magnitude be challenged and brought
up in the public light and held accountable by the American public in the
United States Senate."
"In summary, we feel
that Senator John McCain should have been more vocal and led votes and amendments
in support of missile defense in alignment with his own words and
statements.
Riki Ellison is available for
on-the-record interviews. Call Mike Terrill at 602-885-1955 to arrange.
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