(Excerpt)

WASHINGTON - North Korea's threatening spate of missile launches -
including an unsuccessful try with an advanced version of its
Taepodong 2 Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile that is capable of
hitting the United States - has sparked a cacophony of talk from
leaders and foreign policy experts around the world.

As they debate and discuss various options at the United Nations and
in capitals around the globe, the rudimentary U.S. missile defense
system is poised to shoot down anything launched from North Korea
that threatens the American homeland or the critical interests of our
regional allies like Japan and Australia.

Noticeably absent are the voices of those who, since President Reagan
first proposed such a system in 1984, have fought development and
deployment of the missile defense system the U.S. must now depend
upon in dealing with North Korea. These folks have claimed over and
over that the system they derisively call "Star Wars" can't possibly
work, would be too expensive, would incite a new world arms race,
etc., etc. Names that come to mind in this regard include senators
like Joe Biden, D-Del., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., Ted
Kennedy, D-Mass., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., and the Clinton-Gore
administration that delayed and dilly-dallied with work on missile
defense for most of the '90s.

<snip>

It is a sobering thought to wonder how much more secure the United
States and its allies would be today in the face of madness like
North Korea's launches if instead of a limited defense still in
development we could depend upon the robust protection first proposed
many years ago.

(More)

Read it all: examiner.com