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The Rice Thresher
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by Rachel Krause Thresher staff
Baker Institute Director Edward Djerejian introduced Ivry, praising him as "one of the most competent experts in his field." Prior to his January appointment as ambassador to the United States, Ivry was Israel's national security advisor and head of the National Security Council. In his speech, Ivry said the traditional factors that had deterred ballistic missile use have declined, so countries, particularly democratic ones, need to adopt active defense systems. He said that historically it has been difficult for countries not sharing a border to wage war. Tactical ballistic missiles allow war between nonadjacent countries. Also, missiles allow a country to inflict damage from afar without first having to defeat the other country's military. Previously, an anti-missile defense system that was accurate 20-30 percent of the time proved effective enough to deter bombings, since the aggressor country had to consider the safety of its own civilians. This scenario disappears in the absence of a common border. Ivry examined the question of how countries respond to limited conflict situations. He said democratic countries often do not become militarily involved until their own existence is threatened. He gave World War II as an example: The democracies of Europe waited too long before actively responding to Germany's threat. To this, he compared the current situation in Iraq, which has had unsatisfactory weapon inspections for the past seven and a half years. As a result of these unsatisfactory inspections, no one really knows how many chemical and biological arms Iraq has now. Ivry said democracies hesitate to actively intervene in these limited conflict situations, so they need their own forms of defense. Israel became particularly concerned about the need for an improved defense system after the Persian Gulf War. Although Israel did not participate in the war, Iraq fired a number of missiles at the country. At that time, Israel used passive defense methods, such as bomb shelters and gas masks, to protect its citizens. Later, Israel decided active defense approaches were needed to destroy incoming weapons. Ivry said countries cannot simply rely on anti-proliferation treaties because nondemocratic nations often either do not sign or do not follow through on them. "Democratic countries cannot have the illusion that they will survive by treaties," he said. Since democracies cannot effectively stop other countries from getting military systems, they need to develop their own form of protection - but even that's not enough. Ivry said, "Defense alone doesn't win anything - not basketball, not war." Israel is currently developing the Arrow Program, its ballistic defense system. Baker Institute Assistant Director Richard Stoll, who teaches the political science course Politics of American National Security, explained how the Arrow Program is relevant to the United States. The United States is generally concerned about other countries' abilities to protect themselves from ballistic missiles. Secondly, the United States funds part of the Arrow Program because we hope to learn from their defense development, Stoll said. Jones College sophomore Jerry Vera, who attended Ivry's talk, said he learned about aspects of the missile defense issue that were new to him. "You hear this in the news enough, but this was great because it was actually from a direct source," Vera said. "I also had no idea that the lack of common borders had such a role in the conflict." Baker College freshman Mahek Shah said the speech was interesting because of the large role defense issues play in the November elections. "It was interesting to see a prestigious figure involved in Middle Eastern affairs and hear what he had to say," Shah said. About 100 people attended the event in Baker Hall.
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