-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 16, 2007 12:33:14 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Neocons Pushing for Suspicious "Missile Shield" on
Russia's Doorstep
U.S. MISSILE CHIEF URGES UNITY ON SHIELD TO COUNTER IRAN THREAT
By Brian Parkin and Alan Crawford
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=20601100&sid=a0XAsbJfIypQ&refer=germany
March 15 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. head of missile defense said that
European countries should unite behind an anti-missile shield to
counter the "urgency'' of the threat posed by Iran.
The U.S., in talks to set up parts of the system in Poland and the
Czech Republic, is concerned it could be delayed until 2011 or
2012, according to Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, director of
the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Iran could have ballistic missile
capability between 2010 and 2015, before the shield is ready, he said.
``We see a very serious threat emerging from Iran, a very
aggressive missile program developing there,'' Obering told
reporters in Berlin today. ``We do believe there's an urgency with
respect to this threat.''
Obering was responding to concerns voiced in Europe over the need
for an anti-ballistic missile shield, as well as the U.S. approach
to putting such a system in place. North Atlantic Treaty
Organization Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, while
supporting the shield, warned in the Financial Times on March 12
that the alliance risked being split on the issue.
The program, rather than causing division, can "unite Europe if we
think about it in the right way: Focus on the Iranians as being the
problem,'' Obering said.
Space Launch
Iran has a ``stated intent to develop a space-launch capability,
which they say is imminent,'' he continued. ``If that's true, they
have demonstrated all of the building blocks that you need for
intercontinental ballistic missiles. With the ambiguity of their
nuclear program, that's not a risk that we feel is prudent to take.''
Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. reached tentative
agreement late yesterday on tightening United Nations sanctions on
Iran to halt uranium enrichment. The U.S. and its European allies
say Iran's nuclear program is intended to produce nuclear weapons;
Iran says it is for energy purposes.
Germany, while supporting the UN Security Council, has been less
forthcoming on the missile defense shield. Foreign Minister Frank-
Walter Steinmeier criticized the U.S. for its failure to consult
with Russia over the shield and cast doubt on the system's logic,
telling the Handelsblatt newspaper on Feb. 19 that whether it
``makes military sense has to be assessed.''
NATO Solution
Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with German ZDF
television channel two days ago that her government prefered ``a
solution within NATO as a whole and an open dialogue about it with
Russia.''
Russia will take ``military measures'' to counter the missile-
defense system, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said in
an interview in Moscow yesterday. President Vladimir Putin told a
security conference in Munich last month that the U.S. was eroding
global security and its planned missile shield would spur a new
arms race.
Obering sought to allay Russian concerns that the system could
target Russian weapons or territory, saying the two countries had
enjoyed a ``stable relationship'' for years.
``What is changed here is the very aggressive development and
testing of missiles by Iran,'' he said. ``We have to move to
address that threat in a fairly timely manner.''
The system as proposed involves basing 10 interceptors in Poland, a
radar system in the Czech Republic and a mobile radar, and would
cover all of Western Europe from the Iberian peninsula to Ukraine
and western Russia as well as the Balkans, Obering said.
Tests of the technology have so far been successful, he said, with
the U.S. having launched 24 successful intercepts since 2001.
``We're confident the technology works,'' he said.
---------------
PLANNED US BASES TO PROTECT ONLY PART OF EUROPE,
SAYS CZECH NATO ENVOY
By Prague Daily Monitor/CTK / 15 March 2007
http://launch.praguemonitor.com/en/44/czech_national_news/3113/
Brussels, March 14 (CTK) - The U.S. missile shield whose parts are
to be stationed in the Czech Republic and Poland will protect Italy
and Spain, but not Greece and Turkey, Czech ambassador to NATO
Stefan Fuele told French news agency AFP today.
Fuele said that contrary to possible media speculations, "Italy,
Spain and Portugal will really be under the protection of the U.S.
missile defence shield after it will be installed."
He said that Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Romania would be too far
to reach for the ten defence missiles which the USA wants to locate
in Poland.
In the Czech Republic, the USA plans to locate a radar system.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said earlier this week
that the U.S. anti-missile defence shield should not divide Europe
in two leagues of countries, with league A being protected by it
and league B not.
NATO spokesman James Appathurai said in Brussels today that the
Alliance does not want to take part in negotiations about the
stationing of U.S. bases in the Czech Republic and Poland. He said
that a debate about NATO's own missile defence system would be
opened in the next months.
The U.S. plan has been sharply opposed by Russia which has
threatened to take reciprocal measures. Russia's missile troops
commander Nikolai Solovtsev even recently said that Russia might
aim its missiles at the Czech Republic and Poland if the U.S. base
were built in these countries.
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