U.S. to scrap missile shield plan for Poland, Czech Republic – report
Updated: Thursday, August 27, 2009
Photographer: US Defense Department Photo
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11:30GMT—7:30AM/EST
Washington, 27 August (WashingtonTV)—The United States will abandon plans to house an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, a Polish daily reported on Thursday, citing US officials and lobbyists.
The multi-billion dollar project, intended for defense against attacks from Iran and other “rogue” states, was to install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic. It had met with fierce objections from Russia.
The Polish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, said that Washington was now considering deploying anti-missile interceptors on naval vessels and at bases in Israel, Turkey and the Balkans, reports AFP.
No immediate comment was available from US, Czech or Polish officials, said the agency.
US President Barack Obama ordered a review of the missile shield plan shortly after taking office this year.
Riki Ellison, the chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance – which supports the plan – said that the Obama administration had changed its mind to avoid a rift with Russia, according to the EU Observer website.
“Obama’s people believe that many problems in the world can be more easily solved together with Moscow … it’s a question of priorities,” he told the Polish daily.
According to AFP, the daily cited a source at the US Congress, whom it did not identify, as saying that the Obama administration had been “testing the water” among lawmakers for weeks about scrapping the eastern European part of the missile plan.
Sources: Agence France-Presse, EU Observer website
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