Planned US missile shield gets NATO backing

20/04/2007

Agreeing that Europe faces a missile threat, NATO member states supported on Thursday a US plan to build a shield against long-range missiles. But Russia remains suspicious.

(Reuters, FT, UPI, NATO - 20/04/07; AP, AFP, DPA, VOA, International Herald Tribune, EUobserver - 19/04/07)

US Missile Defence Agency Director Lieutenant General Henry Obering (left) and US Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Eric Edelman hold a press conference at NATO headquarters on Thursday (April 19th). [NATO]

While backing a plan to extend the US missile defence system into Europe, NATO member states agreed on Thursday (April 19th) that the territory of all 26 nations in the bloc must be protected from potential missile threats.

"The unanimous view was that the principle of the indivisibility of security should apply," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters following high-level consultations at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels. "There is a shared desire that any US system should be complementary to any NATO missile defence system."

Earlier this year, the United States announced its plans to deploy ten missile interceptors without warheads in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic by 2012, so as to be able to pre-empt potential missile attacks from "rogue states", such as Iran and North Korea.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's meeting, the head of the US Missile Defence Agency said the project could help discourage such countries from developing long-range missiles that could threaten Europe or North America.

"Nations like Iran, Syria and others see these weapons as very valuable because there has been no defence against those," Lieutenant General Henry A. Obering told reporters in Poland on Wednesday. "But we are at a point now that we have a defence against these weapons."

Obering, US Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Eric Edelman and US Assistant Secretary of State John Rood were in Brussels on Thursday to brief Allies on the planned missile shield.

Once in place, it would cover all of Europe except Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey, which are all NATO members. Stressing that none of the countries in the bloc should be left uncovered, participants called for "indivisible security".

Within that context, Alliance officials also discussed whether another shield -- against short-range missiles, which NATO is planning to build by 2015 -- could be "bolted on" the US system to ensure that all member nations are covered.

"There is a shared threat perception," de Hoop Scheffer stressed. "Allies agree that a threat from ballistic missiles exists."

US experts believe that Iran will have missiles capable of hitting their country and Europe by 2015.

The planned US missile shield was also at the centre of discussions at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, held at the Alliance's headquarters on Thursday. Russia voiced opposition to the project, viewing it as a potential threat that could provoke a new arms race.

Washington has offered more co-operation with Russia, including sharing early warning missile data and conducting joint research and exercises.

Russia sent mixed signals Thursday about its possible response. Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said he saw "no basis of possible co-operation", while the Russian ambassador to NATO suggested that Moscow has not rejected the US offer yet.