Washington Examiner
Skeptics have been firing potshots at the whole idea of missile defense for decades, beginning in the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan proposed his Strategic Defense Initiative, dubbed “Star Wars” by critics. They dismissed the idea of a space-based missile-killing laser as pie in the sky.
After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, after-action reviews concluded the vaunted U.S. Patriot missile failed to work as advertised, never successfully intercepting any of the highly inaccurate Iraqi Scud missiles, including one that hit a U.S. military barracks in Saudi Arabia, killing 28 U.S. troops and wounding almost 100 others.
