Posted
12/15/2004 05:34:00 PM
by Douglas
What would $130 Billion buy you? Apparently, not
much when it comes to the pipe dream that
is the missle defense program.
President Bush's drive to deploy a multibillion-dollar shield against ballistic missiles was set back on Wednesday by what critics called a stunning failure of its first full flight test in two years.
Remember back in the day when we had a enemy we could name? At lease back then we had a reason to develop pointlessly useless weapons like this. Damn, I miss the Soviets.
The Pentagon plans to spend more than $50 billion over the next five years on all aspects of missile defense, aiming to weave in airborne, ship- and space-based assets. The system that failed on Wednesday is know as the ground-based midcourse system, or GMD. By some estimates, the Pentagon has already spent $130 billion on missile defense efforts.
That's $180 billion.
Billion, with a
B folks.
And it's failed in all eight previous tests.
And none of our enemies have missiles.
$180
Billion.