Washington, July 21--Fifty members of Congress, most of them Democrats, have signed a letter to President Reagan protesting the Administration's policy on fighting a protracted nuclear war and urging him to reassess the policy.
The letter, drawn up by Representatives Richard L. Ottinger of Westchester and Berkley W. Bedell of Iowa, both Democrats, will be taken to the White House Thursday, a spokesman for Mr. Ottinger said.
The legislators said they were writing "to strongly protest the reported five-year Defense Guidance recently approved" by Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger. That classified document provides the basic strategy for the armed forces for fiscal years 1984 through 1988.
The letter said: "We are extremely alarmed with those
sections of the guidance calling for planning to wage a
protracted nuclear war. In our minds, such a strategy will
result in a futile renewal of the nuclear arms race in which
neither side will relent."
Among the signers of the letter from the New York area were Representatives Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn, Thomas J. Downey of Suffolk, Frederick W. Richmond of Brooklyn, Benjamin S. Rosenthal of Queens, Theodore S. Weiss of the Bronx, Peter W. Rodino of New Jersey, and Samuel Gejdenson, Barbara Kennelly and Toby Moffett of Connecticut, all Democrats. Two Republicans, Edwin B. Forsythe of New Jersey and Jim Leach of Iowa, also signed.
The letter also objected to plans for space-based weapons, which they said violated international treaties, and to the possibility that the 1972 antiballistic-missile treaty might be abrogated.
It said of the nuclear strategy: "This policy completely contradicts your declared intentions to lessen the risk of nuclear war and undermines the credibility of your offer to negotiate 'meaningful reductions' in nuclear arsenals with the Soviet Union. For these reasons, we strongly urge you to reassess Secretary Weinberger's approval of this policy, as well as provide Congress with a full disclosure of the content of the five-year guidance."
The Administration's instructions to the armed forces envisions a prolonged conventional war if the Soviet Union attacks, but says that if conventional means "are insufficient to ensure a satisfactory termination of war, the United States will prepare options for the use of nuclear weapons."
The guidance strategy says, "Should deterrence fail and strategic nuclear war with the U.S.S.R. occur, the United States must prevail and be able to force the Soviet Union to seek earliest termination of hostilities on terms favorable to the United States."
It says the United States must have "forces that will maintain, throughout a protracted conflict period and afterward, the capability to inflict very high levels of damage against the industrial and economic base of the Soviet Union and her allies."
It says those attacks must provide Soviet leaders with "a
strong incentive to seek conflict termination short of an
all-out attack on our cities and economic assets." It also says
that United States nuclear forces must be capable of "controlled
nuclear counterattacks over a protracted period while
maintaining a reserve" for later "protection and coercion."
(text of article from July 22, 1982 New York
Times)
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