[highball]

Is it unpatriotic, or anti-military, to remind everyone which branch of the government brought us the $400 toilet seat?

The people who run the military aren't always right. Just because the mission is true doesn't mean we should give them a blank check.

[theDentist]

"Incredibly," an Army review said, "the Navy ruled the test a success."

Bad as it sounds, this is not a real surprise. If the test was primarily to measure some other factor(s), and the missile was self-destructed in the process, they may well have successfully proven their changes or modifications were valid.

Men didn't go to the Moon in 1 step. We had to keep building/modifying/altering rockets that exploded on ground, at liftoff, etc etc until we finally got it all right. And while each was a failure, it was a success too.

[familyop]

Yes, the radical left and only the radical left is still aching from the recent successful tests, including one successful missile test where the target was hit during descent, outside the atmosphere.

And only the anti-American left would want to broadcast a NY Times piece that obfuscates the truth of the issue with much older news.

[ScreamingFist]

"Something's wrong with the system," Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld recently told Congress.

"What's wrong with the system" is that we no longer have the engineers, patriotism nor political backing to build high technology weapons. The un-ending layers of management, both government and private and unions have turned the defense industry into a mega-billion dollar joke.

[Snickersnee]

If they were a business, they wouldn't be in business.

They're not a business. They're the Department of Defense. The NYT is a business, and I'm glad I'm not a stockholder.

[pabianice]

Forty years ago, the NY Times and its retarded but wealthy inbred liberal constituancy set out to build a new level of socialistic governmental interference into the fabric of the US. Fisacos followed. In the next 40 years, the new social programs melted the fabric of American society; destroyed the lives and hopes of tens of millions of blacks, American Indians, and other minorities; and created a ten trillion dollar national debt equaling the total spent on its lethal and hypocritical welfare programs. Incredibly, the Times and the coastal elites ruled this chaos a "success..."

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Nine years ago, the Navy set out to build a new guided missile for its 21st-century ships. Fiascoes followed. In a test firing, the missile melted its on-board guidance system. "Incredibly," an Army review said, "the Navy ruled the test a success."

Let's see...

2005 - 9 = 1996.

What happened in 1996 that involved the US Navy and guided missiles?

[wideminded]

"Incredibly," an Army review said, "the Navy ruled the test a success."

Someone I worked with at a military contractor used to point out that in big military procurement programs, every test is a "success". The contractor doesn't want to lose a contract and on the military side, the career of the person in charge is usually on the line.

[big'ol_freeper]

Ping

[rdcorso]

When they develop new weapons a lot of the cost goes to trial and error.I would rather see $200 billion spent on developing new weapons than $50 billion for the medical bills of illegal aliens.I'm sure the Times could find a number of instances of government overspending in other departments that have nothing to do with the military.