Word: mx
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With all of the trenches to hide our MX missiles [June 18], where are the trenches, shelters or caves to hide us in the event of nuclear war? Is anyone thinking about that...
Today's neo-rightists want more spending on arms, including $30 billion for the MX missile. Yet these same people are calling for a constitutional convention to balance the budget, presumably by cutting social programs. They apparently put more value on the instruments of global death than they do on the instruments of hope for America's needy...
That afternoon Carter and Brezhnev talked 2¼ hrs. about SALT II and related arms issues. The Soviet leader objected to U.S. plans to build the MX missile, which will be movable to make it less vulnerable to attack. Said Brezhnev: "I don't understand why you're building this missile." He warned that if the missile cannot be verified by the Soviets "this will plant a mine under further negotiations." Carter replied that the missile would indeed be verifiable and therefore within the SALT II limits. The two leaders also exchanged views on the Soviet Backfire bomber, U.S. cruise missiles...
...most likely plan now is some form of trenches, in which the MX can be moved around by rail. Each trench, about 20 miles long, might be "zippered" shut, so that it could be uncovered occasionally for Soviet verifiers. MX verification is imperative for the future of SALT, since any system that frustrated verification could presumably be duplicated by the Soviets...
Many residents of Western states, where the MX is expected to go, were leery of these additions to their landscape, especially after Air Force Chief of Staff Lew Allen referred to the area as a "sponge" that could soak up Soviet missiles, but the Governors of Nevada and Utah recently announced their support of the MX trenches. Besides, the U.S. has already spent $5 million on environmental impact studies for its new weapon...