Once again the Republican congressmen are displaying their infantile ability to be obstructive without having any idea why, or indeed, having any serious or logical counterproposal.
This week Republican Senator Kyl (shouldn’t that be pronounced kill) of Arizona went on the offensive against the Start Treaty. Who’s on the other side? How about the last six living former Republican Secretaries of State. Yeah, that’s right. Every one from Kissinger to Rice is for the treaty but being at odds for the best brains his party has managed to muster over the last fifty years doesn’t faze Kyl. After all he learned to say no during the healthcare and regulatory debates and he doesn’t want to waste all that larnin’.
Look, there are always two sides to any issue and with something as complicated and dangerous as this there should be, but for the good of our country (something in which, this group of Republicans have shown no interest) maybe we should keep our objections to logical stuff that has significance.
Kyl’s main objection seems to be that the treaty doesn’t specify tactical (battlefield) nuclear weapons. Which he thinks the Russians will use unless they are specifically identified. This would be a better objection if the Russians had used them in Afghanistan where they were losing a war. That they didn’t, indicates that they are no more eager to turn various landscapes into glass than we are.
The key element in the treaty is the inspections, which will enable everyone to keep track of all nuclear weapons that both sides have stockpiled and thereby keep them from disappearing into hostile, (read terrorists) hands. It will also create a united front between us and the Russians, against Iran and North Korea.
Kyl also babbles about language, which isn’t actually in the treaty, that would restrain us from employing a nuclear shield against future attack from Iran and North Korea. That fact that neither of them has anything like that capability doesn’t seem to matter. Also what doesn’t seem to matter is that the treaty will go a long way to helping keep nuclear weapons and components out of the hands of terrorists, which is the practical problem we are currently facing.
We all recognize Senator Kyl as the moron who spent the pre-election months screaming for spending cuts but wasn’t bright enough to name even one. It appears that all this legislating stuff is far too deep for Kyl. Maybe he should give it up and get a job that lends itself more to his talents. How about mowing lawns? There are plenty of those available now that they’ve chased a lot of immigrants out of his state.