WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will soon give Russia notice that the United States is withdrawing from the 1972 nuclear treaty that bans testing of missile defense systems, U.S. government officials said Tuesday.<BR>
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He will announce the decision in the next several days, effectively invoking a clause in the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that requires the United States and Russia to give six months' notice before abandoning the pact.<BR>
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Initial White House plans called for announcing the decision Thursday, but officials cautioned that date could change. The four government officials spoke on condition of anonymity.<BR>
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With the decision, Bush takes the first step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge to develop and deploy an anti-missile system that he says will protect the United States and its allies, including Russia, from missiles fired by rogue nations.<BR>
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Bush has said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks heightened the need for such a system.<BR>
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Russia and many U.S. allies have warned Bush that withdrawing from the pact might trigger a nuclear arms race. Critics of the plan also question whether an effective system can be developed without enormous expense.<BR>
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Conservative Republicans have urged Bush to scuttle the ABM, rejecting proposals to amend the pact or find loopholes allowing for tests.<BR>
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The president defended his push for a missile shield during a national security speech Tuesday at the Citadel in South Carolina.<BR>
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``Last week we conducted another promising test of our missile defense technology,'' Bush said. ``For the good of peace, we're moving forward with an active program to determine what works and what does not work. In order to do so, we must move beyond the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a treaty that was written in a different era, for a different enemy.''<BR>
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``America and our allies must not be bound to the past. We must be able to build the defenses we need against the enemies of the 21st century,'' he said.<BR>
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According to Bush administration officials, Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured Bush during their October talks in Washington and Crawford, Texas, that U.S.-Russian relations would not suffer even if Bush pulled out of the treaty.<BR>
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They said Bush's decision reflects a desire by the Pentagon to conduct tests in the next six months or so that would violate the ABM.<BR>
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The decision came as Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Moscow, said Russia and the United States are near agreement on drastic cuts in long-range nuclear arsenals, but remain at odds over a U.S. missile defense.<BR>
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Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the arms-reduction deal could be ready for the next summit between Bush and Putin, tentatively scheduled for Moscow next spring.<BR>
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But the U.S.-Russian disagreement over missile defense is so deep that Russia is bracing for the possibility of a U.S. withdrawal from the landmark 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, Ivanov told a joint news conference with Powell at the Kremlin.<BR>
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``The positions of the sides remain unchanged,'' Ivanov said.<BR>
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Despite the missile-defense impasse, both Ivanov and Powell were upbeat about prospects for wrapping up a deal to reduce nuclear warheads.<BR>
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Powell said he was taking Bush a Russian recommendation on arms cuts that responds to Bush's announcement last month that the United States would cut its nuclear arsenal over the next decade by two-thirds, from just under 6,000 warheads now to between 1,700 and 2,200.<BR>
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Powell did not disclose specifics. But a senior State Department official, briefing reporters on Powell's plane, said the Russian recommendation was in the same ball park as the Bush announcement.<BR>
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Ivanov said Russia prefers to see the reductions presented in treaty form. Bush has opposed such a move in the past, suggesting that the reductions should be put on less formal grounds.<BR>
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<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, December 27, 2001 2:06 PM<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Wounded Knee</blockquote><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> <font face="Arial, Helvetica">To All My Friends & Relatives:</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">Saturday will be the 111<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre. One hundred and eleven years sometimes seems like a very long time but when this event is seen from the experience of the Lakota it is but a heart beat from this generation.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">They say the generation of adults, who lost their lives on the wind swept frozen ground by Wounded Knee Creek, knew more people who were dead then who were alive. What a statement - can you imagine if this was your reality. Of all the people you know today more of them dead then alive.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">The Miniconju men, women, and children who were rubbed out were my great grandfather, Matthew Poor Buffalo's relatives. I cannot fathom the depth of despair that the survivors must have experienced. Or the complete disbelief of the relatives, who stayed behind, must have felt when told of the slaughter that day.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">I can only equate it to the shock that I personally felt when I received the news that my favorite nephew killed himself, or when I received two calls six months apart that my two beautiful, young, vibrant little brothers were dead because of stupid accidents. I can still feel the pain in my spirit. It never goes away, the years may dim it but the anger, the loneliness, the sense of loss that still persists after all these years.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">But to hear that over two hundred of your closest relatives, your best friends, your brothers in arms, your lovers, your grandmothers, your sisters, your nieces, your nephews, your grandchildren are all gone in a tangled mass of blood, guts, and frozen bits of flesh. To learn that they were thrown into a pit by contract labor, with no honor song sung for the brave deeds of the warriors who willingly gave their lives to try and protect their women and children - there was no sage, or tobacco offered - there was no tear spared. I'm sure there was much laughter and cussing as those men took small babies and threw them into the pit to be lodged away from the arms of their mothers.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">When I hear the term "Ground Zero" or "This is sacred ground" - I think of our "Ground Zero" of our "Sacred Ground." The sacred ground at Wounded Knee. In this sad time of reflection, when many of us pray for those who are the survivors of 9/11 - please, also take the time on Saturday to think about my relatives who were slaughtered at Wounded Knee 111 years ago. Twenty-three Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to soldiers of the 7<sup>th</sup> Cavalry for action against unarmed men, women, and children of Spotted Eagle's (Big Foot) Tiospaye.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">The only reason the Miniconju were at Wounded Knee was because of fear. Fear of the United States and its power and might and its willingness to send a fully armed army with its most advanced weapons against poor starving families who were in their own land, practicing the right of every citizen of the United States -- the freedom of religion. Spotted Eagle and his people are all martyrs to be honored. I honor them and will place a small amount of spirit food and tobacco outdoors with a prayer.</font> <br>
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<font face="Arial, Helvetica">Mary Lee Johns</font> <br>
