Obama changes missile defense policy, focuses on blocking Iranian weapons
12:00 AM CDT on Friday, September 18, 2009
dallasnews.com
FROM WIRE REPORTS The Washington Post,
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's decision to abandon a Bush-era missile defense system in Europe and establish a partly ship-based shield against Iranian rockets could tighten U.S. pressure on the Islamic republic and ease a simmering rift with Russia.
Obama, in announcing the decision Thursday, said his plan based on the Navy's Aegis missile-defense system will be geographically closer to Iran, will be deployed sooner, and will be more cost effective than the land-based system put forward by the Bush administration.
Obama said the system he is embracing will offer "stronger, smarter and swifter defense of American forces and America's allies."
The Bush plan for 10 interceptor missiles and a radar facility in Poland and the Czech Republic will be replaced by a network of smaller, more modern missiles based on ships, and later on land. Obama and his top military officials said the decision was driven by an evolving assessment of Iran's capability and intentions.
Rather than defend Europe and the U.S. against a handful of intercontinental ballistic missiles, military officials said they now must counter Tehran's successful efforts to manufacture hundreds of smaller, shorter-range missiles.
"The intelligence community now assesses that the threat from Iran's short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, such as the Shahab-3, is developing more rapidly than previously projected," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. "This poses an increased and more immediate threat to our forces on the European continent, as well as to our allies."
The abrupt reversal of U.S. defense policy brought plaudits from Russian officials, who had viewed the prospect of a U.S. missile shield system on its western border as a threat.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko made clear that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is pleased with the development, calling the announcement "a positive signal."
Obama's announcement sparked immediate condemnation from Republicans in Congress, who accused the administration of abandoning America's allies and putting the country's security at risk.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that the move "does little more than empower Russia and Iran at the expense of our allies in Europe. It shows a willful determination to continue ignoring the threat posed by some of the most dangerous regimes in the world."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called the move away from a system designed to counter long-range weapons "seriously misguided."
Gates anticipated those criticisms and fired back strongly. "Those who say we are scrapping missile defense in Europe are either misinformed or misrepresenting the reality of what we are doing," he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was a strong critic of the Bush shield, called Obama's decision "brilliant" and "a giant step forward."
Critics of the Bush system noted that it was aimed at shooting down long-range ballistic missiles, which Iran is not expected to have until at least 2015, according to arms-control experts. The system was not intended to deal with Iran's medium-range missiles, which are currently capable of hitting Turkey and the edge of Europe, analysts said.
But supporters of the Bush-proposed system said it could include a layer of missiles to deal with the shorter-range threats. They also argued that it was better to have a defense in place against potential Iranian missiles that could hit the U.S., rather than wait until they already existed.
As described by Gates and his top generals, Obama's new missile defense plan will unfold in three stages. By 2011, the Pentagon will deploy Navy Aegis ships equipped with SM-3 interceptors in the eastern Mediterranean.
A second phase, in about 2015, will field an upgraded, land-based SM-3 in allied countries. Discussions are under way with Poland and the Czech Republic on basing the missiles in their territory, Gates said.
In 2018, the third phase will deploy a larger and more capable missile, which will allow the missile defense shield to defend Europe and the U.S against short- and intermediate-range rockets, and, eventually, intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Washington Post,
Los Angeles Times |
