Scud-Buster’s Effectiveness Questioned
Damage from Scud attacks on Israel may have tripled after the United States deployed Patriot missiles to intercept the Iraqi missiles, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
Under questioning, however, Theodore Postol acknowledged that his assessment was purely speculative and was based on damage data that may have equated a destroyed apartment with one that had only broken windows.
The Patriot has been widely praised for its success in intercepting 45 of 47 Iraqi Scuds fired at Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Postol said that before the Patriots arrived, 13 Scuds fell in the Tel Aviv area, damaging 2,698 apartments and wounding 115 people. The Patriots intercepted 11 Scuds and, in the aftermath, 7,778 apartments were damaged, 168 people were wounded and four died, including three who had heart attacks.
Postol added that when a Patriot successfully intercepted a Scud, falling debris from both missiles often inflicted “tremendous levels of damage.”
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