[caltrop]

Maybe they wouldn't have used the Crusader if it had been available for this particular operation. That doesn't mean it won't be exactly what's needed in future enagagements. In Vietnam artillery was critical. We could always count on it - regardless of weather, darkness or anything else which might compromise the gee-whiz stuff.

Look at it this way, the entire cost of the Crusader program is, I think, less than the amount of the increase in the Department of Education budget for the next fiscal year. Since DOE money is completely wasted and artillery support is indispensable I'm having a hard time accepting the demise of the Crusader without knowing what artillery system will replace it. Before I get a lecture on the budget process let me add that our excursion into Bosnia, projected at $1.5 billion for the first 12 months hit $4 billion at the ten month mark. Needless to say, I presume we've kept the spending level for the Balkans at something like the same level. DOD has plenty of savings available to pay for Crusader, or something else. What, for example, are we still doing in Germany?

[Poohbah]

If you don't like the US military being based in Germany, then you really can't support Crusader--because the Crusader is, as we say in the computer trade, "highly optimized" for the Fulda Gap scenario at the expense of far more likely scenarios.