Lonesome EJ:

You said "and his investment of time and money in 80s anti-ballistic missile technologies in preference to controlling the spread of third world and terrorist access to nukes, are issues with which even staunch conservatives have difficulty. "

I believe that the controlling of the spread of third world and terrorist access to nukes is the exactly the justification for the attack on Iraq, and the probable attacks on other countries. The time and money presently being invested on the "80s anti-ballistic missle technologies "( developed in the mid to late 90s...) is in addition, to deal with a different threat, which still exists: long range missiles. I don't think that the GI with a rifle is any good against the spread of biological agents- does that imply we should not bother to have the GI? (Hint- the answer is to prepare for ALL types of attacks)