Obama to Scrap Missile Shield Plan
An official speaks with Brittany Harrington at a road closure near her home on Highway 287, due to a wildfire burning in a mountainous area about 15 miles west of Fort Collins, Colo., on Sunday, June 10, 2012. Firefighters on Sunday were fighting wildfires that have spread quickly in parched forests in Colorado and New Mexico, forcing hundreds of people from their homes and the evacuation of wolves from a sanctuary. The Colorado fire grew to 22 square miles within about a day of being reported and has destroyed or damaged 18 structures. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, AAron Ontiveroz) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT / AAron Ontiveroz
Updated 9:10 a.m. ET
The Obama administration is shelving a European missile defense plan that has been a major irritant in relations with Russia, a U.S. ally said Thursday. The Pentagon confirmed a "major adjustment" is planned.
Jan Fischer, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, one of two countries where the system was to be built, told reporters that Obama phoned him overnight to say "his government is pulling out of plans to build a missile defense radar on Czech territory."
Without giving specifics, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said, "We have made a major adjustment and enhancement to our European missile defense system that will better protect our forces deployed in Europe and our allies there from Iranian short- and medium-range missiles."
He said the change comes in part because the U.S. has concluded that Iran is less focused on developing the kind of long-range missiles for which the system was originally developed.
"While the Iranian threat has developed, so too has our technology," Morrell said. Details were expected to be announced later Thursday.
CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports that an official told CBS News that "it will become evident that the way forward enhances our homeland defense and protects our forces abroad as well as our European allies."
The official said review was "driven by an updated intelligence assessment of Iran's missile programs and new advances in our missile defense capabilities and technologies."
Obama's top military adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the administration was "very close" to the end of a seven-month review of a missile defense shield proposal, an idea that was promoted by the George W. Bush administration. Mullen would not divulge its results.
Obama faced the dilemma of either setting back the gradual progress toward repairing relations with Russia or disappointing two key NATO allies, the Czech Republic and Poland, that agreed to host components of the planned system.
Morrell said Thursday, "This improvement to the system has nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with Iran."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the U.S. decision "a positive step."
And Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said, "It reflects understanding that any security measure can't be built entirely on the basis of one nation."
Czech government spokesman Roman Prorok said Ellen Tauscher, a U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, was briefing Czech officials in Prague and Polish officials in Warsaw on Thursday about Obama's decision.
"This would confirm that Central Europe is not in the center of the Obama administration's interest," said Jaroslaw Gowin, lawmaker for Poland's ruling Civic Platform party. "But maybe the U.S. will offer us an alternative."
Piotr Paszkowski, spokesman for Poland's Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press he would wait for the U.S. announcement before commenting.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates scheduled a news conference Thursday morning with a top military leader, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, who has been a point man on the technical challenge of arraying missiles and interceptors to defend against long-range missiles that an aggressor such as Iran might lob at the U.S. or its allies.
Obama took office undecided about whether to continue to press for the European system and said he would study it. His administration never sounded enthusiastic about the plan, and European allies have been preparing for an announcement that the White House would not complete the shield as designed.
The decision comes as the Obama administration has been seeking closer ties with Moscow and as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is preparing to visit the United States next week for the U.N. General Assembly and the Group of 20 nations economic summit.
The plan for a European shield was a darling of the Bush administration, which reached deals to install 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic — eastern European nations at Russia's doorstep and once under Soviet sway.
Moscow has argued that the system would undermine the nuclear deterrent of its vast arsenal.
Medvedev has praised Obama for reviewing the plans, though the U.S. administration has maintained the Bush administration's argument that the European missile defense plans are aimed at countering a threat from Iran and pose no threat to Russia.
At an Army missile defense conference last month, military officials discussed possible alternatives for European missile defense, including using shorter-range interceptors from other locations closer to Iran.
Cartwright also has discussed ways the United States might join forces with other nations to watch and protect against Iranian missiles. Using multiple sensors, including some in the Persian Gulf region, theoretically could provide at least a partial shield for Eastern Europe without basing a full radar and interceptor system so close to Russia.
CBS/ AP The Obama administration is shelving a European missile defense plan that has been a major irritant in relations with Russia, a U.S. ally said Thursday. The Pentagon confirmed a "major adjustment" is planned.
Jan Fischer, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, one of two countries where the system was to be built, told reporters that Obama phoned him overnight to say "his government is pulling out of plans to build a missile defense radar on Czech territory."
Without giving specifics, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said, "We have made a major adjustment and enhancement to our European missile defense system that will better protect our forces deployed in Europe and our allies there from Iranian short- and medium-range missiles."
He said the change comes in part because the U.S. has concluded that Iran is less focused on developing the kind of long-range missiles for which the system was originally developed.
"While the Iranian threat has developed, so too has our technology," Morrell said. Details were expected to be announced later Thursday.
CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports that an official told CBS News that "it will become evident that the way forward enhances our homeland defense and protects our forces abroad as well as our European allies."
The official said review was "driven by an updated intelligence assessment of Iran's missile programs and new advances in our missile defense capabilities and technologies."
Obama's top military adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the administration was "very close" to the end of a seven-month review of a missile defense shield proposal, an idea that was promoted by the George W. Bush administration. Mullen would not divulge its results.
Obama faced the dilemma of either setting back the gradual progress toward repairing relations with Russia or disappointing two key NATO allies, the Czech Republic and Poland, that agreed to host components of the planned system.
Morrell said Thursday, "This improvement to the system has nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with Iran."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the U.S. decision "a positive step."
And Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said, "It reflects understanding that any security measure can't be built entirely on the basis of one nation."
Czech government spokesman Roman Prorok said Ellen Tauscher, a U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, was briefing Czech officials in Prague and Polish officials in Warsaw on Thursday about Obama's decision.
"This would confirm that Central Europe is not in the center of the Obama administration's interest," said Jaroslaw Gowin, lawmaker for Poland's ruling Civic Platform party. "But maybe the U.S. will offer us an alternative."
Piotr Paszkowski, spokesman for Poland's Foreign Ministry, told The Associated Press he would wait for the U.S. announcement before commenting.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates scheduled a news conference Thursday morning with a top military leader, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, who has been a point man on the technical challenge of arraying missiles and interceptors to defend against long-range missiles that an aggressor such as Iran might lob at the U.S. or its allies.
Obama took office undecided about whether to continue to press for the European system and said he would study it. His administration never sounded enthusiastic about the plan, and European allies have been preparing for an announcement that the White House would not complete the shield as designed.
The decision comes as the Obama administration has been seeking closer ties with Moscow and as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is preparing to visit the United States next week for the U.N. General Assembly and the Group of 20 nations economic summit.
The plan for a European shield was a darling of the Bush administration, which reached deals to install 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic — eastern European nations at Russia's doorstep and once under Soviet sway.
Moscow has argued that the system would undermine the nuclear deterrent of its vast arsenal.
Medvedev has praised Obama for reviewing the plans, though the U.S. administration has maintained the Bush administration's argument that the European missile defense plans are aimed at countering a threat from Iran and pose no threat to Russia.
At an Army missile defense conference last month, military officials discussed possible alternatives for European missile defense, including using shorter-range interceptors from other locations closer to Iran.
Cartwright also has discussed ways the United States might join forces with other nations to watch and protect against Iranian missiles. Using multiple sensors, including some in the Persian Gulf region, theoretically could provide at least a partial shield for Eastern Europe without basing a full radar and interceptor system so close to Russia.
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Israel. This, in terms of economic aid and in the high cost of American lives defending Israel against the Arabs.
As long as the U.S. blindly supports Israel, we will have to fight the Muslim world forever.
As long as Israel maintains it's hegemony toward Palestine, nothing can help us in the Middle East.
Something has to change.
If you think trade can be the ONLY thing we do with foreign nations, you're delusional. Trade revolves around politics to a huge extent, and trading without politics involved is impossible. In essence, what you're advocating is something that just isn't possible.
You're clueless kid. I mean really, you just do not have the slightest idea of what you're talking about.
China is one of the world's BIGGEST trading partners, and they trade with North Korea, Sudan, Iran, and Somalia, as easily as they trade with the US, England, Canada, and France.
And when was the last time they told America or ANY OTHER country what to do? (Other than Tibet or Taiwan - China considers those countries as part of China, not "trade partners.)
Same goes with Russia, France, Germany, etc, etc, etc. NONE of those countries attempt to dictate foreign policy to any other nation, and they all have vibrant and thriving economies, and DO NOT expose themselves to other countries internal conflicts like America does.
I'm not advocating isolationism or protectionism, I'm advocating minding our own F ING business for a change!!
Star Wars brought the Communist Russian Nation to a free society.
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All hail George Lucas!
Putin is calling the shots in Russia. They're having a massive spending program modernizing and expanding their military, signed a 2.2 billion dollar weapons deal with Venezuela, and holding military exercises in the Carib. Combine those with their refusal to curb carbon emissions, staunch support of Iran's nuclear program, refusal to cooperate with OPEC production quotas, and their attacks on Georgia does not make a 'peaceful picture'.
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The Obama administration states that relations with Russia had no bearing on the decision to scrap the program. I don't buy it. I wonder if there was a quid pro quo worked out so that Russia might agree to stricter measures being imposed on Iran if they comply with inspections concerning their nuclear program.
On the other hand, we just PO'd China, which also has veto power on the UNSC, by stating our intention to impose tariffs on tires we import from them.
Confounding.
You are another ACORN paid liar. No US pilots were ever shot down by the SA-7 nor the SA-14 shoulder fired rockets. On the other hand, your friends and our enemies the russians were shot down by plenty of the US supplied Stiger's in the roaring 80's.
Care to try again, with "facts" this time?
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=43506
And what did they find in the trunk of bin Laden's driver's car when they arrested him:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0807/p01s08-usju.html
"When Hamdan was captured, soldiers found two SA-7 surface-to-air missiles in his car."
I wonder how much American blood is on Ronald Reagan's hands?
The absolute best defense against missiles is to keep them on the ground.
You forgot to use the word "cracker" again. You are just another ACORN paid liar.
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Racist!
"Obama scraps obsolete and ineffective missile defense plan on the advice on all his joint chiefs of staff and the secretary of defense and replaces it with a better and lower cost system that can adapt to new threats".
I know, you can check it out later today.
The Limbetts, Hannitones, and Breck girls can pretend all they want to that Obama is destroying our miltiary but what I just posted is the truth.
Not that truth matters to the Obama haters.
Okay, so Poland and the Czech Republic are left swinging in the breeze - they went on record for this project and risked Russia's wrath, and now we're leaving them standing there empty-handed?
This is another example of Bush/Rice selling a "defense against Iran" pretext (Iran's latest missile potentially can reach some of southern Europe), which was actually a wink-nod defense against Russia. The Czech Republic gets Russia messing with their fuel supplies because we sold them the bill of goods, Poland now has to figure out a way to save it's bacon (politically) with a hostile Russia.
We may have pulled the rug out from under them, but the rug never should have been there either, so now the question is how do we make it right with Poland and the Czech Republic?