How Democrats left America naked before North Korea’s nukes

Marc Thiessen:

Opposition to missile defense has been an article of faith for Democrats since President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1983. Sen. Edward Kennedy led the early opposition to what Democrats derisively labeled “Star Wars,” denouncing missile defense as a “mirage.”

Reagan nonetheless moved forward with research and development, and his successor, George H.W. Bush, put missile defense on track for deployment with the Global Protection Against Limited Strikes program.

But as soon as President Bill Clinton took office, he terminated GPALS and cut national missile-defense funding 80 percent. Clinton also signed an agreement to revive the moribund Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned deployment of missile defense.

Then Republicans took Congress, and passed a defense bill in 1996 that required deployment. Clinton vetoed it on the grounds that there was no threat.

Secretary of Defense William Perry declared, “We do not need a national missile-defense system because . . . no rogue nation has [intercontinental ballistic missiles] . . . and if these powers should ever pose a threat, our ability to retaliate with an overwhelming nuclear response will serve as a deterrent.”

In other words, national missile defense would never be needed — even to protect against a regime, such as North Korea.

More