Mr. Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran who became a war protester, did defend some of his record yesterday, saying he had voted for the biggest Pentagon and intelligence budgets in U.S. history but had also challenged President Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense as well as some weapons systems such as the MX missile.

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But the logic in the long run of making such alliances is that Europe's firms will otherwise lose the ability to make some big-ticket weapons, such as advanced fighters, without American help.

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Moreover, the Jordanian near-miss underscores the point that we should take no comfort from the fact that the status of such weapons is unknown, since some of them may wind up being used outside Iraq.

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They said they had heard the claims, had made some investigations, and had found no evidence that such weapons had been used.

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Some popular rhetoric suggests that getting rid of nuclear weapons could solve such problems.

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By some estimates, they enjoy a 10-to-1 advantage in such weapons.

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The sonic devices could prove less deadly than so-called "non-lethal" weapons such as Tazers and pepper spray guns that have actually caused some fatalities.

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Western European nations (where the weapons are housed) have moved away from that position, with some such as Germany calling for their removal - but newer members to the east continue to see them as a guarantee of US commitment to defend them.

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"If you're actually trying to negotiate an agreement which secures the bottom line -- that is to say that you put meaningful curbs on Iran's nuclear program such as they cannot procure nuclear weapons -- then you're going to have find some way to get to that, " he added.

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