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Missile Defense Plan Debate

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
I suppose the US will continue to ask for support from their NATO partners in the future?

After being sold out by Obama, I wonder how quickly that future support will come.

What has changed since Feb. when Gates felt that the Iran satelite launch, showed the "capacity payloads farther and more accurately"?

Ballistic Missile Defense Efforts Tied to Iran, Gates Says
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

KRAKOW, Poland, Feb. 19, 2009 – A NATO ballistic missile defense system wouldn’t be needed if Iran didn’t pose a threat, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today.

“We continue to be very concerned about the Iranian missile threat, particularly as they continue to work on what we believe are weapons of mass destruction,” Gates told reporters following the beginning of the NATO defense ministers meeting here.

NATO has agreed to a ballistic missile defense that would protect against a launch from Iran. The Czech Republic will host a radar for the system, with the missiles based in Poland.

Russia adamantly has opposed the system.

“I told the Russians a year ago that if there were no Iranian missile program, there would be no need for the missile sites,” Gates said.

The Iranian launch of a low-Earth-orbit satellite Feb. 2 shows the nation is building up its capability to launch payloads farther and more accurately.

“The fact is that with the economic crisis, Afghanistan and Iraq, the administration has not yet reviewed where it is on a whole range of issues, including relationships with our allies, the missile defense program and our relationship with Russia,” the secretary said. “These things are all tied together, including Iran.”

The secretary said he hopes that with a new administration, the prospects for cooperation from Russia will improve.

“We will continue to move forward,” Gates said. “We also are very interested in continuing to persuade the Russians to partner with us in this endeavor.”

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53158
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
From Small dead animals

The Anti-Reagan

He's not the anti-Bush - he's the anti-Reagan!

Poles and Czechs voiced deep concern Friday at President Barack Obama's decision to scrap a Bush-era missile defense shield planned for their countries.

"Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back," the Polish tabloid Fakt declared on its front page.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he was concerned that Obama's new strategy leaves Poland in a dangerous "gray zone" between Western Europe and the old Soviet sphere.

Recent events in the region have rattled nerves throughout central and eastern Europe, a region controlled by Moscow during the Cold War, including the war last summer between Russia and Georgia and ongoing efforts by Russia to regain influence in Ukraine. A Russian cutoff of gas to Ukraine last winter left many Europeans without heat.

The Bush administration's plan would have been "a major step in preventing various disturbing trends in our region of the world," Kaczynski said in a guest editorial in the daily Fakt and also carried on his presidential Web site.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he still sees a chance for Poles and Czechs to participate in the redesigned missile defense system. But that did not appear to calm nerves in Warsaw or Prague.

Ahmadinejad approves, while Putin is pleased - "I expect that after this correct and brave decision, others will follow"

No doubt.
Posted by Kate at 9:26 AM| Comments (49)
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
We'll have to wait and see what affect this flip flop will have on the NATO's commitment to :

"an armed attack against one or more [allies] shall be considered an attack against them all."

But if this had happened before April 17, I think you would have seen Poland ignoring obama's request for more troops in Afghanistan.

Watch for additional NATO members to distrust obama's commitments in the future. Reneging on promises made to secure troops won't be taken lightly.

WARSAW, Poland, April 17 (UPI) -- Poland's defense minister said a fresh contingent of troops will raise the number of his country's soldiers
in Afghanistan to 2,000.

Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said Polish troops were in service of NATO's most important mission -- to stablilize Afghanistan and the surrounding region, Polish Radio said Friday.

President Obama on April 5, 2009: "So let me be clear: Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran's neighbors and our allies. The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a defense against these missiles. As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven. (Applause.) If the Iranian threat is eliminated, we will have a stronger basis for security, and the driving force for missile defense construction in Europe will be removed."

Do you think a Country like Canada is going to believe any obama promises that are made, when he tries to get Canadian troops to stay in Afghanistan longer than the 2011 deadline that has been set?
 
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