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BMD Focus: Euro-base blues -- Part 1
Washington (UPI) Nov 16, 2007 The Bush administration and the U.S. Congress continue to stumble between the two worst possible worlds as they lock horns over the issue of putting a ballistic missile defense base in Poland. As we have noted in previous columns, there are strong arguments to build the base and strong arguments not to: The argument to build the base and accompanying advanced radar installations in the neighboring Czech Republic is that both facilities are essential to defend the United States and Western Europe against the threat of nuclear missile attack from Iran and North Korea in the future. The counterargument is that such a threat from Iran especially is years away, especially against the United States, and that building the bases will infuriate Russia and lead to a new round of distrust and confrontation across Central Europe unused since the last serious freeze in the Cold War a quarter-century ago. However, the current deadlock in Washington has ensured that both those negative scenarios are going to be fulfilled at the same time. The Bush administration remains determined to build the bases, but Democrats in Congress have been slowing the process down and a key figure this week said she was determined to block funding for the Polish anti-ballistic missile interceptor base in particular. That has meant that the Russians remain furious with the Bush administration for its determination to build the bases, and crucial U.S.-Russian relations, especially on key strategic issues, are now in the doghouse. Yet the United States and its allies are reaping absolutely no upside from this grim development because the crucial bases remain as far away from being built as ever. The seesaw battle between the Democratic 110th Congress and the Bush administration over whether to build the base in Poland took a new turn last week when a key Democrat overseeing key elements of ballistic missile defense planning on Capitol Hill came out far more strongly against the plan than she ever had before. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., the chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, said Nov. 8 that she would block any move to start building the base in Poland, which is intended to house 10 ground-based mid-course interceptors to guard against any future Iranian or North Korean intermediate- or long-range nuclear missile attack against the United States or Western Europe. Tauscher told defense reporters she would block funding for the base until the United States formally ratified diplomatic agreements with Poland and the neighboring Czech Republic for an accompanying advanced array radar facility, according to a Defense News report also on Nov. 8. Tauscher has played a key role in securing a broad consensus for mainstream BMD programs among the majority Democrats in both houses of Congress. But although the Poland base would employ the same BMD technology that has already been successfully tested against ICBM-type targets, she dismissed it as one of the more speculative "science projects," Defense News said. Tauscher even claimed the facilities would not be able to protect European nations, but would only be intended to protect the United States, Defense News said. "Well over 60 percent of the population in Poland and the Czech Republic don't want it," she said. Tauscher's statement marked a significant hardening of her position. In September Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate pushed through legislation to trim the funds the White House had requested to build the Polish base. Previously, Senate Democrats said they would fund a sister radar array base in the Czech Republic to track such missiles but would eliminate entirely the funds to build the controversial Polish base, which is opposed by Russia. The House reduced the administration's request to build the two bases by $139 million from $310 million to $171 million. The Senate cut a smaller amount, $85 million, approving $225 million for the program. (Next: The new Democratic strategy) Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
BMD Watch: Tauscher will block Euro-bases
Washington (UPI) Nov 13, 2007 Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., the chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, said Thursday she would block any move to start building the base in Poland, which is intended to house 10 ground-based mid-course interceptors, or GBIs, to guard against any future Iranian or North Korean intermediate- or long-range nuclear missile attack against the United States or Western Europe. The Democrats in Congress are still determined to boost Israel's BMD programs. On Nov. 7 a joint committee from the Senate and the House approved $155 million for them -- almost twice the sum that the already supportive Bush administration had originally requested. The U.S. Air Force has launched its last early-warning surveillance satellite under the venerable Defense Support Program. |
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