Second, that the planned missile-defence initiative is wrong because terrorists do not fire missiles, they fly planes.

ECONOMIST: Responding to terror

At the same time, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Tuesday the U.S. will continue to fire missiles at militants in Pakistan.

WSJ: Obama Offers Open Channels to Pakistan, Iran, North Korea

Andrew Krepinevich, a radical defence analyst whose thinking has been endorsed, in part, by Mr Rumsfeld, cites several weapon systems which deserve higher priority: long-range bombers, missiles and unmanned aircraft, ships designed for coastal warfare, and submarines which can fire cruise missiles.

ECONOMIST: Defence policy

UN's Special Commission, whose job it has been since the Gulf war ended in 1991 to strip Iraq of its secret chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to fire them.

ECONOMIST: That man again

The missiles can fire a warhead hundreds of miles.

BBC: Syria denies supplying scud missiles to Lebanon

When the control computer has decided the best time to launch, it tells a launcher to fire a missile or missiles - typically two might be fired at a target in rapid succession because one alone does not guarantee a hit.

BBC: Fact file: Patriot missile defence

The nuclear strategy will not take U.S. nuclear weapons off submarines, bombers and missiles that could fire them at a moment's notice.

WSJ: U.S. Keeps First-Strike Nuclear Strategy

Though some versions of the helicopter may eventually be equipped with an array of missiles, the Fire Scout is for now planned as a reconnaissance vehicle--a role where entire missions, including taking off and landing on aircraft carriers, can be accomplished with just a few keystrokes.

FORBES: War Without Soldiers

Bush administration officials -- Powell among them -- argued that Iraq had harbored stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, a hidden nuclear weapons program and long-range missiles in violation of the cease-fire that ended the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

CNN: Powell:?Troops could begin leaving?Iraq this year