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. Questions like that are out of order.