I've added a lot and cited it, but I've kept the Km measurement style because A) its how the actual treaty is written and B) I'm not converting it cause I am lazy.--[[User:Elamdri|Elamdri]] 20:39, 19 March 2007 (EDT)
==Preventing the preventable==
From the article: '''The idea was to prevent either nation from having a nationwide defense system against strategic nuclear weapons.'''
This is true as far as it goes; but the idea behind it was much broader and a bit more subtle.
'''If''' a nation could achieve an anti-ballastic missile system then that country would work towards that goal: this is destabilizing in two ways:
#'''Nation 1''' has such a system in place, it can launch a "first-strike" to debilitate some of '''Nation 2's''' ballistic missiles...the respondant's launch of its remaining [[ICBM]]s is then "taken care of" by the ABM system.
#'''Nation 2''' knows that '''Nation 1''' has an ABM system in place, in order to avoid being caught in such a scenario '''Nation 2''' launches a pre-emptive "first strike" of it's own using ''some'' of it's ICBMs. '''Nation 1''' deploys it's ABM system knocking out a majority of the first salvo, but is then overwhelmed by a second and much larger salvo of '''Nation 2's''' remaining ICBMs.
The entire ABM Treaty relied on both powers to live by [[MAD]] (Mutual Assured Destruction), taking the idea of a "winnable nuclear war" off of the table. [[User:MargeryCampbell|MargeryCampbell]] 13:17, 9 May 2008 (EDT)