Trust, but Verify

Our president has now reneged on his promise to Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismantle thousands of nuclear weapons as part of our unilateral withdrawal from the ABM treaty (Jan. 13). I recall that President Bush was asked how we could trust the Russians to diminish their own nuclear stockpile as their part of this deal. He stated that no formal agreement was needed and that he could trust Putin after “looking the man in the eye.” Unfortunately, Putin appears to be a poor judge of character to have trusted Bush to deliver on his promise. In the spirit of its Enron cronies, perhaps the Bush administration should consider declaring moral bankruptcy.

Don Scott

Calistoga