Obama infuriates Europe as he scraps Bush's 'Son of Star Wars' missile defence shield
By David Gardner
Last updated at 9:52 AM on 18th September 2009
Read more: dailymail.co.uk
President Obama was accused of caving in to pressure from Russia last night after abandoning plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe.
The President’s decision to scrap the £2.5billion system in Poland and the Czech Republic was immediately welcomed in Moscow.
But it left countries in the former Soviet Bloc concerned that Mr Obama was less willing to stand up to Russia than his predecessors in the White House.
The move also came at a sensitive time for the Poles, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland at the beginning of the Second
World War.
Poland saw the shield as a political security blanket against a resurgent Russia.
The Obama administration is seeking to ‘reset’ battered ties with Russia so that the two former Cold War foes can cooperate on Iran, on fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and on reducing their nuclear arsenals.
But furious Republicans blasted the move, saying that Russia and Iran were stronger as a result.
Former presidential candidate John McCain said the decision was ‘seriously misguided’.
John Bolton, a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under the Bush administration, claimed: ‘Russia and Iran are the big winners. I think this is a bad day for American national security.’
Senate Republican Jon Kyl added: ‘The message the administration sends today is clear: the United States will not stand behind its friends and views “re-setting” relations with Russia as more important.’
Mr Obama insisted that a redesigned defensive system would be cheaper and more effective against the threat from Iranian warheads.
Anticipating criticism from the Right, he said new Pentagon proposals focusing on short to medium-range Iranian missiles would provide increased protection more quickly than the Bush plan.
‘Our new missile defence architecture in Europe will provide stronger, smarter and swifter defences of American forces and America’s allies,’ he claimed.
Mr Obama, who will meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during next week’s United Nations General Assembly session in New York, said Russia’s objections to the shield were ‘entirely unfounded’.
Under the shield system it was planned to deploy a radar system in the Czech Republic and ten ground-based interceptors in Poland.
Although it never got past the blueprint stage, it was meant to be up and running by 2012.
The scheme had angered Moscow which anticipated U.S. influence extending right up to its border.
The Bush missile shield would ostensibly have been a deterrent for Iranian long-range missiles, but the Russians worried that the system would be aimed at them.
Under the Obama plan, Standard Missile-3 interceptor warheads would be deployed aboard U.S. Aegis ships patrolling the region, and later on the ground in Turkey or southern Europe, said defence officials.
Although Washington is thought to believe that Iran’s missile programme poses less of a threat than previously thought, the U.S. will still seek to rein in Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged that the replacement system is likely to allay some of Russia’s concerns.
Mr Obama, pictured, phoned Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer on Wednesday night and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk yesterday to alert them to his decision.
It was not clear whether any part of the new system would still be installed in those nations.
Mr Obama said the U.S. will continue to work with what he called ‘our close friends and allies’.
However Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the U.S. will deploy a
Patriot missile battery on Polish soil.
‘The American side has assured us that the Patriots will be armed and capable of being linked to our defence system,’ Mr Sikorski said.
H/T Peter Dierks
dailymail.co.uk |
