US Approaches Czech On Missile Base Proposed For Poland - Polish Internet

Warsaw, Poland - 17 April, 2008 The United States and the Czech Republic appear to be close to an agreement on the European Missile Defense system. But the talks with Poland have been so difficult that the United States is said to have approached the Czech Republic and asked to put the missiles there rather than on Polish soil.

The US appears to be ready to back away from Poland.

The US Senate has previously refused to provide funding for the proposed base in Poland.

And the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Henry A. "Trey" Obering testified before a US Senate Armed Services Committee that the radar would be useful without the missiles. He said" "The radar itself is a tremendous capability," US Says Czech Radar Could Have Many Uses

Poland vowed to bargain hard with the US on the terms of the agreement to put the missiles in Poland. A key issue is that the US upgrade the Polish Military.

According to a report on a Polish internet portal, the offer made by the US for the upgrade was not good enough for Polish politicians.

And in response to the Polish position, the US is reported to have asked the government of the Czech Republic about the possibility of having both the missiles and the radar on their soil.

It is reported that due to strong political opposition, the Czech Government would rather have just the radar than both. But the offer was not rejected.

Polish Minister of Defense Radoslaw Sikorski criticised the press for not allowing the Polish Government to conduct sensitive negotiations in private.

Speculation is that the US is only trying to make Poland change its demands.

With the dollar at new lows against the zloty and a new administration taking power next year, funding for one base may be more attainable than funding for two.

More http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/1731680,11,dramatyczny_zwrot_w_negocjacjach_ws_tarczy,item.html In Polish