Wednesday, November 11, 2009

How close are we to a foreign missile attack?

Documentary ‘33 Minutes’ presents U.S. state of defense

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By SABINA DANA PLASSE
Express Staff Writer

Courtesy photo The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafaro will present the documentary “33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age” at the Community Campus in Hailey.

The documentary film "33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age" reveals that in a little more than a half hour, the U.S. could suffer a missile attack from as far away as North Korea or Iran.

"People are not going to stop building nuclear power plants," said Heritage Foundation defense expert James Carafaro. "A missile defense is an insurance plan."

Carafaro coordinates research on foreign policy and national security issues for the Heritage Foundation, based in Washington, D.C. The foundation is a think tank for public policy research and has released the documentary film "33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age" to inform the public on defense policies and issues.

"We thought it was more important to have community screenings for the film than in theaters so viewers can think about the issue and discuss it with each other," Carafaro said. "For me, this is a personal issue because I was in the army for 25 years and worked with nuclear weapons."

Carafaro said that with every generation there is hope to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world. However, he said that if North Korea and Iran become nuclear powers, neighboring countries are likely to also attain nuclear weapons.

"We need to worry about all those things and missile defense," Carafaro said.

Carafaro said diplomacy and arms control have not worked, and the public needs to be educated on policies to defend the U.S. from an attack. The film includes a wide range of experts, such as retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. "Trey" Obering III, former director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency and Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of Great Britain from 1979 to 1990.

"33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age" will be screened free at the Community Campus in Hailey tonight at 6:30 p.m. A Q&A session with Carafaro will take place after the screening.

Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com