Report Appeared In Russian Paper
President Obama offered to kill plans to build the European Missile Defense (EMD) system if Russia would help the United States force Iran to abandon its nuclear program, according to a report in the Russian Kommersant newspaper, Fox News stated.
Russian leaders including President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimr Putin have blasted the EMD system to defeat Iranian missiles, saying it really would be an attempt to defeat Russian ICBMs, as we reported previously.
According to Kommersant, Obama made his suggestion in a letter to Medvedev, stating that if the Iranian nuclear production program that might produce nuclear weapons is halted, then there wouldn’t be any need for the United States to build the EMD radar in the Czech Republic and interceptors in ground silos in Poland.
Some fellow Democrats in Congress, who oppose the EMD and have put major restrictions on its construction, might welcome Obama’s approach.
Obama has said he favors missile defense programs, but only if they are certain to work and are cost-effective. EMD opponents say the EMD system needs years of testing to show it would work against Iranian missiles, adding that it would be expensive.
Some Democrats say the United States could create a cooperative, joint approach on EMD with the Russians, including Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. (Please see full story in this issue.)