With all the focus on Iran’s nuclear intentions, it’s easy to forget that there’s another — arguably more crucial — front in the battle to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

At UN-sponsored negotiations in Geneva, dozens of countries have been trying to prevent the arms race from spreading into space, where experts say it could more easily trigger a nuclear war.

The graveness of this threat has been appreciated since the late 1950s, when the Eisenhower administration led the push for a ban on weapons in space, culminating in a unanimous 1963 declaration by the UN General Assembly that “the use of space shall be carried on for the benefit and in the interests of all mankind.” In 1967, ninety-seven nations signed the Outer Space Treaty banning space weapons.

While there’s been strong international pressure in recent years to toughen that 1967 treaty, the U.S has reversed its stand on the issue. It is now the only major nation resisting a more comprehensive ban.

The battle against militarization of the Earth’s orbit is, by any reasonable standard, one of the major struggles facing humanity. It’s also the main reason why Canada should continue to refuse to participate in Washington’s ballistic missile defence system.

Much of the debate over Canada’s participation — a debate the Harper government has signalled a willingness to reopen — has centred on the impact of our decision on Canada-U.S. relations.

But our decision also has repercussions for the decades-long struggle to keep weapons out of space; a struggle that Canada has supported, along with the European Union, Russia and China. Even Harper’s Conservatives officially oppose weapons in space.

But some here in Canada have played a devious game, denying missile defence is linked to space weaponization.

This is like denying HIV is linked to AIDS.

Key players in the Bush administration have been less coy about acknowledging the connection. Indeed, before taking office, some of these hawks openly linked the two.

Just months before becoming senior officials in the Bush administration, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz were key figures in a high-powered group called the Project for the New American Century.

The group produced a document, Rebuilding America’s Defenses, which called for a massive military buildup “to maintain American military preeminence.”

Missile defence was central to their plans and as the document explains: “No system of missile defences can be fully effective without placing sensors and weapons in space.”

It also argued: “Maintaining control of space will inevitably require the application of force both in space and from space, including but not limited to anti-missile defences … space control cannot be sustained in any other fashion.”

Missile defence lies at the very heart of ambitious plans, long nurtured by hawks now in power in Washington, to achieve military mastery of the world through control of outer space.

Dwight Eisenhower opposed such plans as contrary to the well-being of humanity — and so should we.

Linda McQuaig

Journalist and best-selling author Linda McQuaig has developed a reputation for challenging the establishment. As a reporter for The Globe and Mail, she won a National Newspaper Award in 1989...