ShareThisAn editorial / By Dale McFeatters
Scripps Howard News Service
Friday, May 11, 2007
House Democrats are planning to slow, by cutting back funding, the Bush administration's plans to build a missile defense system in Europe. It might not be a bad idea. The haste with which the administration wants to push ahead with the system raises questions about just how well thought out it is, but the system is already causing us problems.
The threat is problematic _ a presumed Iranian long-range missile capacity by 2012. The missile interceptors are intended to protect U.S. and NATO troops in Europe, but the threat assessment has to be made: Under what circumstances would the Iranians do something so stupid and shortsighted as to launch a handful of missiles against Western Europe and invite massive and destructive retaliation?
However, the possibility of a U.S. missile defense system has thoroughly rattled the always-suspicious Russians. They are unmoved by administration arguments that the system is not aimed at them and is incapable of stopping Russian missiles in any case. The Russians, who seem to have more faith in our technical capabilities than we do, undoubtedly see it as the first step toward a full-scale "Star Wars" system down the road.
Further, Russia is sensitive to the fact that the sites of the silos and the radar, Poland and Czech Republic, are two former Soviet satellites and may need some time to get used to the idea.
The cost, $3.5 billion, is modest considering what we've spent on the Iraq war but the fact is, there are more pressing military needs for the money.
Further, there is no proof that the system will work as planned. Tests of the interceptor to date have not been encouraging and government auditors say there have been too few of them to assess how well the system will perform.
A little delay won't hurt matters, and it may even help.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.net)
