The interceptors [ed. aka Star Wars] have not proven their reliability, hitting targets only five times in eight tests, said Philip Coyle, former assistant secretary of operational test and evaluation at the Pentagon. He said they failed even when using advanced information "an enemy would never give us," including when they were launched.

[ed. I keep remembering the great scene from the movie, "Spies Like Us" Gen. Sline: "A weapon unused is a useless weapon." Anyway...]

"It's not something you want to depend on in real battle," said Coyle, now a senior adviser at the Center for Defense Information, a Washington think tank. "It's also misleading to say we don't have any defense now. If troops in North Korea saw that country building a missile, they would blow it up on the ground. They would never wait to see if it was launched." [ed. don't forget all the terrorists already here that Ashcroft keeps whining about and throwing in jail.]

Congress has appropriated more than $10 billion for the missile defense system for the next fiscal year, and Missile Defense Agency estimates for 2004-2009 run as high as $53 billion.

A group of independent economists estimates the entire system could cost as much as $1.2 trillion, based on government estimates of individual components - many of which have yet to be developed or tested, Coyle said.

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:25 AM | | | Link |