BUSH SAYS THAT KERRY IS 'LIVING IN THE PAST' IN NOT SUPPORTING A MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD

This amazes me! Bush even suggests that the missile shield was envisioned by Ronald Reagan, and he asserts that his administration will see it to fruition. What he doesn't mention is that in all missile shield tests EVER conducted there has never been success on more than 3 of 11 key indicators that a missile shield could work. Furthermore, he attempts to suggest that Kerry and others who are opposed to this type of missile defense are 'living in the past,' even though the idea was supported originally by the Reagan administration during the height of the Cold War when missile attacks were actually a threat. More significantly, even former members of the Reagan administration have suggested that the missile shield plan was more important as a counterthreat to the continuing nuclear proliferation of the era. It was not as significant that we could actually achieve a missile shield as it was that the Soviets perception was that we could achieve it. Today, I do not see how the promise of a missile shield holds any significant deterrent to terrorists, or any other current threat that the United States must face. My question must then be: Who is REALLY living in the past?

This quote from one of Kerry's key national security advisors sums up the Bush administration's continuing lack of understanding of post-Cold War international relations--

Kerry foreign policy adviser Rand Beers said in a statement that in the months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, "Bush and his closest advisers were preoccupied with missile defense, and their misunderstanding about the threats we face continues to this day." He said Kerry was committed to developing an effective missile defense.