`Defraud America Week'
Somebody forgot to tell Congress that the Cold War ended.
Somebody also forgot to tell Congress that even if Russia were still a superpower with the demonic intention of destroying the United States, a `Star Wars' system would offer little if any defense.
Somebody forgot to tell Congress that the nation is trying to face up to its deficit problems, trying to economize by dumping wasteful, illogical, unworkable projects.
But congressional Republicans are sailing blithely onward, their vision apparently clouded by the same hypnotic hype that put Star Wars on the drawing boards 12 years and 29 billion wasted dollars ago.
They have launched an effort to deploy a national missile defense system by 2003. A spending bill comes up for consideration next week.
Total cost is unknown. Backers find it most profitable to start with a few billion, and when it's gone, point to past expenditures as justification for future shovelings down the same rat hole.
Whose missiles will it defend us against? Questions like that are out of order. According to a publication of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon, organizer of the Congressional Missile Defense Caucus, told industrial supporters last year, `If you keep relying on the facts and logic, then we're going to lose this battle.'
The Star Wars pushers are calling next week `Defend America Week.' A wag suggests `Defraud America Week.'
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