Missile Shield Needed To Counter Iran, Bush Says

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The New York Sun

WASHINGTON — President Bush said today that plans for an America-led missile defense system in Europe are urgently needed to counter an emerging threat of attack by Iran.

“If (Iran) chooses to do so, and the international community does not take steps to prevent it, it is possible Iran could have this capability,” Mr. Bush said. “And we need to take it seriously — now.”

Mr. Bush’s latest warning about Iran’s nuclear ambitions came in a broad defense of his security policies at the National Defense University and it came not long after Defense Secretary Gates told a news conference in the Czech Republic that the administration might delay activating the proposed missile defense sites until it has “definitive proof” of a missile threat from Iran.

In his speech here, Mr. Bush said intelligence estimates show that Iran could have the capability to strike America and many European allies by 2015.

“The need for missile defense in Europe is real, and I believe it’s urgent,” Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush’s warning about Iran was contradicted by Foreign Minster Sergey Lavrov of Russia during a visit to Tokyo. He said American-led missile defense initiatives in Europe and Asia are based on an erroneous assessment of the threat posed by Iran.

“North Korea poses a fundamental threat, but Iran does not,” Mr. Lavrov was quoted as telling Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura of Japan.

Mr. Bush sought to allay Russia’s concerns and draw Moscow in, portraying the proposed system as a “cooperative effort” against “an emerging threat that affects us all.”

He spoke somewhat positively of President Putin’s offer of facilities for this purpose in Azerbaijan and southern Russia. The idea would be to replace American plans for missiles based in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic.

Mr. Bush said the project as a whole is “part of a broader effort to move beyond the Cold War” and “could lead to an unprecedented level of strategic cooperation between” Russia and America.

But the president’s words were not likely to appease his Russian counterpart, who has instead sounded as if the Cold War is beginning again over the dispute. Mr. Bush said only that Mr. Putin’s suggested alternative “could be included as part of a wider threat monitoring system” and made clear that the Poland- and Czech-based plan is still the operative one for America.

“The danger of ballistic missile attacks is a threat we share and we ought to respond to this threat together,” Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush complained that Congress has cut money for missile defenses by hundreds of millions of dollars, and said that “missile defense is a vital tool for our security. It’s a vital tool for deterrence and it’s a vital tool for proliferation. Yet despite all these benefits, the United States Congress is cutting funding for missile defense.”

He said money for missile defense in Europe had been reduced by $139 million. He said that “could delay deployment for a year or more and undermine our allies who are working with us to deploy such a system on their soil.”

“The greatest threat facing our nation in the 21st century is the danger of terrorist networks or terrorist states armed with weapons of mass destruction,” Mr. Bush said.

The proposal has already been presented to the Russians, who strongly oppose having American missile defense bases in Europe but have expressed interest in the proposal Mr. Gates mentioned today, which Mr. Gates said has yet to be worked out in detail.


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