Polish Leaders Discuss U.S. Missile Defense Plans

Leading Polish political leaders met yesterday to debate the possibility of hosting U.S. missile interceptors on Polish soil, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 1).

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski spoke with leaders of the six political parties in parliament, according to AP.

“All views must be heard,” said government spokesman Jan Dziedziczak.

Under the U.S. plan, Poland would host missile interceptors and a missile tracking radar would be based in the Czech Republic.

Polish critics of the plan have expressed fear that the missile site could become a military target for Russian weapons or for terrorists, AP reported.  Russian leaders have repeatedly protested the plan, arguing that the interceptors would be able to strike Russian strategic missiles (see related GSN story, today; Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Feb. 12).

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, however, recently dismissed that notion.

“We are doing this in support of our friends in Europe,” he told an international security conference in Munich last week.  “The stuff being installed provides no protection against Russia; it is to provide protection for our friends and allies” (Ian Traynor, The Guardian, Feb. 12).

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