Was Gulf War Hardware Oversold?

Pentagon reports raise questions about some weapons' effectiveness

DESERT STORM GENERAL NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF once said its record was 33 for 33. President Bush was nearly as upbeat, claiming it was 41 out of 42. Last week a group of independent analysts said nobody can determine how many of the 47 threatening Iraqi Scud missiles were intercepted and destroyed by U.S. Patriot missiles.

Steven Hildreth, a Congressional Research Service defense specialist, told the House Government Operations Committee that the Army's 1991 data would support a claim of only "one warhead kill." Under fire, Major General Jay Garner confirmed that the Army, in a revised study, was dropping its kill claims...

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