Missile Defense System Won't Be Launched This Year -LAT

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON — After the Pentagon's national missile defense system failed a key test this week, the Bush administration has dropped its plans to activate the system by the end of the year.

A spokesman for the military's U.S. Northern Command said Friday that the missile system would not become operational until early 2005 at the earliest, meaning the Pentagon would miss a goal advanced by President Bush.

The delay in the system followed the failure of an $85-million test Wednesday — the second major test in two years to fail — but officials at the Northern Command said the timing of the announcement was unrelated to the failure. Instead, they said a "shakedown" of the system had not been completed.
...
Top military officials also have predicted that the system would be operational this year. "By the end of this year we expect to have a limited operational capability against incoming ballistic missiles," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in an August address in Huntsville, Ala.
...
"I never understood how they could declare operational capability" by year-end, said Philip Coyle, former chief of testing for the Pentagon, who has criticized the administration's missile defense strategy. "Even if this latest test had been a success — which it wasn't — the Missile Defense Agency itself knows that the system has no capability to shoot down enemy missiles under realistic conditions."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-missile18dec18,0,4840766.story?coll=la-home-nation

They are actually calling it a "shakedown"?

[Telly Savalas]

1. Your hard earned tax dollars at work!

[Historic NY]

2. a complete failure and were paying for it................

Was listening to Shields & Brooks on News Hour (the only news I now watch) talking about the complete failure of "Star Wars". They mentioned * spent something like 34 billion so far for utter failure on it. For 2 billion the troops could have had all the armored vehicles they needed. The Defense Dept. cost-benefit analysis is completely FUBAR, spend money on a failed system, but spend little or no money to save troops lives and protect them from sever injuries.

[baldguy]

3. They have never had a successful test of this system.

Its kept alive purely for political considerations. A perfect example of Republican pork: a "Missile Defense" system that will never be able to defend us against missiles, but can funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to George Bush's corporate sponsors.

[underpants]

4. There were TWO missiles systems at one point

I have looked high and low for an article that either states that it is just one system now or that points this out but I know I heard that on a report (Your Money type thing) years ago. The Navy had one and the Air Force had another-the corporate cronies were selling not just selling us one thing that wouldn't work and wasn't needed but TWO!!!

Gen. Myers got the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs position mainly because he has been a big supporter of StarWars.

[underpants]

5. Oh GOD how will they keep us safe for the next 13 days?!?!??!

They were actually considering starting this up and counting on it within the next two weeks??? Yikes.

[The Zanti Regent]

6. I'm sure the PRESIDENTIAL PRAYER TEAM will swing into high gear!

Why, they'll just PRAY for Jesus to create a shield!

[underpants]

7. ABC had a report on "prayer teams" this week and I thought...

if that much prayer really worked so well the Red Sox would have won more than one series in the last 86 years.