If you had to pick just two sentences to capture the willful stupidity of the Bush administration's missile defense push, this pair from Global Security Newswire would do nicely:
The U.S. Defense Department has once again postponed flight-testing new elements of its missile defense system until the end of November.
Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering said, however, that the delay would not alter plans to begin operating the system in the next month or two.
Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.), with the Armed Services Committee, asks the right question: "If youre not confident enough to take a chance on a test, how can you say that this can engage successfully in a real operational mission?"
THERE'S MORE: "Keeping America safe from attack is the central theme of the president's re-election campaign. Why then except for a rally last month at a Boeing plant where a piece of the program is manufactured has he scarcely mentioned missile defense?" wonders Slate's Fred Kaplan. "Perhaps because the program is having serious problems and because Bush knows it's having problems."
