We live in an age where nuclear devices can be carried in suitcases and the Cold-War threat of ICBMs have all but vanished, and yet Bush is making it his mission to implement a system that is actually going to destabilize the current balance of nuclear power and violate the ABM treaty of 1974 that has been credited with maitaining nearly 30 years of nuclear stability.
Putting aside the ridiculousness of it from a financial and political standpoint: the damn thing doesn't even work!! Two tests and two failures. As one official put it, "it's like trying to shoot one bullet with another bullet".
You'd think that in the post Sept. 11th world, approaching national security from a Cold-War perspective would be an obvious blunder.