Generals, Diplomats Warn of New START as Senate Moves Toward Ratification

The proposed New START agreement would handcuff the United States while giving the Russians free rein, retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely tells Newsmax.TV. The Senate should reject the treaty because, “In reality, the Russians don’t have to do anything,” Vallely said in the exclusive interview.

“We’re the only ones that would be limited and cut back,” said Vallely, a Vietnam veteran who retired from the Army in 1993 as deputy commanding general in the Pacific Command.

“We have to realize that Russia really is not our friend. The more we are lessening our power in the United States, the more power the likes of Russian and China begin to rise,” he said.

Vallely was among more than 30 former defense officials and diplomats who issued an open letter to the Senate Monday expressing their “professional judgment” that New START, “is not consistent with the national security interests of the United States,” and “should be rejected by the U.S. Senate,” which is considering it now.

Russia easily could cheat secretly to our detriment, they maintain, and it would restrict deployment of new U.S. anti-missile defenses. They also believe that Russia would reduce the survivability and flexibility of our our strategic forces, which could be militarily destabilizing.

Editor’s Note: See “Generals, Diplomats Warn of New START”

The letter was issued as Democrats, confident they had enough Republican votes to ratify the treaty, moved to cut off debate on New START Tuesday.

In discussing START provisions that would limit the deployment of a U.S. missile shield in Europe, Vallely said it is “important for Europe to really start looking out for itself and to figure out how they are going to defend from incoming missiles from the likes of a rogue nation like Iran. The other nations of Europe have to stand tall.”

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Speaking of Iran, Vallely said attack plans are drawn up targeting sites there and in southern Lebanon in case it becomes necessary to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“The plans have been developed for all the targets in Iran, as well as in southern Lebanon, because the Israelis cannot strike Iran today without striking the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon that has thousand s of rockets and missiles aimed at Israel,” said Vallely, who is a senior military analyst for Fox News.

“Someone has got to take the step because Iran is on a rampage,” Vallely said, adding that appeasement and negotiations with rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea don’t’ work.

The 75 targets in Iran include missiles, port facilities, the Iranian navy, and the Revolutionary Guard, with the goal of weakening the regime so opposition forces can take charge of the government, Vallely said.

“We’ve done nothing really [about Iran] since they took our hostages in the late ’70s,” he said. “Thanks to the strength of President Reagan, they returned to us.”

But since then, he said, “we sit back, Iran continues to strengthen, to become the dominant power in the Middle East, providing IEDs into the forces in Iraq that are killing and wounding our soldiers — same thing in Afghanistan — and we sit by and do nothing.

“Weakness breeds contempt,” said Vallely, who wrote “Endgame: the Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror” with retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney in 2004.