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[tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

     STAR WARS MISSILE MISFIRES...AGAIN

1/20/2005

Gosh, it's sad that the Bushites have not been able to provide 
protective armor for all of our troops in Iraq – resulting in untold 
numbers of needless deaths and maimings – but... well, the Pentagon has 
other priorities. Such as playing with its Star Wars toys.

There recently was another test of this boondoggle. The scheme is that 
the military industry can build a whiz-bang technological wonder that 
will allow a U.S. missile to be fired at an incoming enemy missile and 
shoot it out of the air. So far, the Pentagon has shoveled $80 billion 
into this smoke-and-mirrors stunt, with another $50 billion to be thrown 
at it in the next five years.

I say "smoke-and-mirrors," because it doesn't work – and nearly all 
independent experts say it won't ever work, and isn't even needed.

Indeed, the Pentagon even rigged its previous tests – including putting 
beacons on the target missile so their Star Wars missile can find it 
easily – yet, it still doesn't hit the target. The latest test was 
especially embarrassing. Instead of merely missing the target this one 
couldn't even get off the ground. Pentagon chief Donnie Rumsfeld, 
however, is undeterred, saying that critics who claim that his pet 
project doesn't work are misguided, because "what the definition of 
'work' is, is terribly important."

OK, Donnie, try this small dose of reality: The system is so flawed that 
it cannot be fired if the weather is bad! Excuse my skepticism, but it's 
at least possible that an enemy might not wait for a perfectly clear, 
calm day to take a shot at us.

The main thing that the Bushites' highly touted missile defense system 
can be counted on is to hit the federal budget. But they don't care, for 
its all being deficit financed, paid in IOUs that our grandchildren will 
have to pay – long after the Bushites are gone and their Star Wars scam 
has been assigned to the scrap heap of ridiculous waste. Is there no 
other need in America that we could spend this money on