EDITORIAL
Bush missile defense deployment ill-advised

There's no surprise at all in President Bush's order for initial deployment of a national missile defense system. It was one of his most constant campaign promises.

The announcement, nevertheless, is dismaying. Let's count the reasons:

• It doesn't work. Why not deploy a system after (if) it's shown to work?
• It's terribly expensive, at a time when national budget deficits are mushrooming.
• It diverts resources and perhaps attention from the war against terrorism. Groups like al-Qaida would likely deliver weapons of mass destruction in suitcases or cargo containers rather than ballistic missiles.
• Scientists think it's relatively easy to develop measures to "fool" interceptor missiles with decoys and the like.
• Deployment is likely to propel new arms races. While the Russians have, under protest, accepted U.S. withdrawal from the ABM treaty, China is thought already to be expanding its limited fleet of ICBMs. Bush has assured the Chinese that NMD is not aimed at them, but they understand that if NMD can cancel out their deterrent, then they are defenseless against a U.S. first strike.
• By seizing this unique advantage, Bush assures that nations of all stripes will feel a need to distrust and compete with us.

Even if NMD may offer a limited defense against a nuclear-tipped missile aimed at U.S. territory by North Korea, Japan is an easier target. A credible North Korean threat would cause Japan to build its own nuclear weapons, setting off an Asian arms race.

In short, NMD deployment would be a mistake even if it could be shown to work, and even if we could afford it.