BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE

NEW-ERAWARFARE
might retaliate with nuclear weapons, and certainly we made
things ambiguous in that regard . But the Iraqi generals
reported the reason they didn't use chemical weapons was
because if they used them, they knew our troops were better
protected than their troops . They felt that if they used
chemical weapons, they would suffer many more casualties
than we would .
I think that they were right in their assessment, and I think
that it highlights the importance of defenses being a key
element in deterrence . If you have ballistic missile defenses,
then that makes another country's acquiring ballistic missiles
less important, and in fact, may deter them from spending
large amounts of money to build them .
Our allies and neutral nations would benefit greatly if we
had wide-area ballistic-missile defenses . For example, suppose
we had the capability to share ballistic missile defenses on a
global basis, say a space-based system . You could go to a
country such as Israel-which I believe has nuclear weaponsand
say, "If you get rid of your nuclear weapons, we'll share
ballistic missile defenses with you ." Or suppose we went to
India and Pakistan and said, "Look, we understand that you
don't like each other, we understand that you are both relying
on ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons to deter one
another, and that if you have a war, there is liable to be a
nonrational decision which causes one or the other or both to
use these weapons . The problem is, we live downwind, and we
don't like it . So, while you may want to use these systems,
we're not going to let you . We are going to preclude you from
doing that, at least to the extent we can, by using our ballistic
missile defenses to interfere with any missile attack that takes
place ." I think that use of active defenses can be as important
as using ballistic missile defenses in the direct defense of our
own nation .
Consider this : The former head of the Japanese Air Force,
General Ishizuka, and I have talked for hours about the
challenges in defending against possible missile attacks,
because it is a subject of very high concern in Japan . The
military leadership in Japan is very concerned about
ballistic-missile defense . One of their concerns is that their
people, or elements of their population, will lose confidence in
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