Posted on 09/17/2009 7:09:46 AM PDT by balls
WASHINGTON The Obama administration plans to announce on Thursday that it will scrap former President George W. Bushs planned missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic and instead deploy a reconfigured system aimed more at intercepting shorter-range Iranian missiles, according to people familiar with the plans.
President Obama decided not to deploy a sophisticated radar system in the Czech Republic or 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland, as Mr. Bush had planned. Instead, the new system his administration is developing would deploy smaller SM-3 missiles, at first aboard ships and later probably either in southern Europe or Turkey, those familiar with the plans said.
The White House will announce the decision Thursday morning and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was first appointed by Mr. Bush, will then discuss it with reporters at 10:30 a.m. It amounts to one of the biggest national security reversals by the new administration, one that will upset Czech and Polish allies and possibly please Russia, which adamantly objected to the Bush plan. But Obama administration officials stressed that they are not abandoning missile defense, only redesigning it to meet the more immediate Iranian threat.
The way forward enhances our homeland defense and protects our forces abroad as well as our European allies, said an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid upstaging the announcement by Mr. Gates. Our review has been driven by an updated intelligence assessment of Irans missile programs and new advances in our missile defense capabilities and technologies.
Administration officials said the Bush missile defense architecture was better designed to counter potential long-range missiles by Iran, but recent tests and intelligence have indicated that Tehran is moving more rapidly toward developing short- and medium-range missiles.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Good, then they deserve the destroyer. Let them let him take their jobs,income, opportunities , wealth, freedom and liberty.
Thats not for me.
I have this unsettling feeling that we will look back on this and ask why we wasted so much precious time and resources arguing about health care, and igonred the many threats against our country.
Yep. That's exactly what I told a German Freeper a month or so ago on a similar thread. I told him he'd better start learning Russian because with Obamalamadingdong in the White House Europe could no longer depend on the USA for it's defense. He couldn't see the connection. If Israel goes for broke and starts a war with Iran after bombing their nuclear sites into oblivion that will slow or stop about 40% of the world's oil supply that passes through the Straight of Hormuz because it will suddenly be in a war zone. Europe will almost certainly have to get most of their oil and gas from Russia. This puts the whole of Europe under Pootie's KGB thumb. The Euroweenies are too stupid to see what is on their horizon.
BHO=increased troop commitment to Afghanistan
The wife and I just did a quick trip up to SW Virgina for a couple of days of hiking. Along the way up and back we saw dozens of military vehicles being moved south. Mostly, it was Bradley's, Humvees and MRAPs, but there were a couple of M1A1's, too. Could be a coinkydink, but the last time I saw this much military hardware being moved south was about two months prior to the Iraq invasion. Before that it was during the first Gulf War. Something is up....
a crap day to announce such a thing the day of the Soviet invasion of Poland,,,
Amazing. Utter amateurs in charge.
I seriously doubt this is a mistake or coincidence.
How could it not be deliberate? Obama is all about the street thug veiled threat.
You got that right. Russia owned our boy in the white house.
more dangerous... FARRRRR greater resources at his disposal
Good post. I agree.
Read the article at the link, it is incredibly good.
That's because their rationale is nothing but double talk spin!
This was our last remaining pressure point being applied to Iran, and without it, there is no reason for them to even consider stopping their development of ICBMS.
I think this is part of Obama's first foreign policy gambit to make a deal with Russia in order to stop Chavez in Venezuela from starting a war in our back yard. Russia has been instigating this by selling mucho weapons to Chavez as a misdirection ploy and he fell for it!!!!
They are not going to stop! Putin wants revenge.
Eastern Europe now understands that we are nothing but a paper tiger. They are on their own, and that fear will lead to a event down the road that will draw us into a global conflict that could have been prevented.
Russia must have given O'bambi some assurances and it's just a matter of weeks before this boneheaded administration realizes they have been screwed. It also give every tin pot dictator on the planet the knowledge that we are no longer in the game.
My guess is this sort of timing is one of the ways Obamalamadingdong's true message is being communicated to both the Russians and the eastern Europeans. Most folks in this country won't notice or be aware of the timing because they don't know the history (thank you NEA union thugs). You can bet the folks in eastern Europe and certainly the Russians are aware, though. Obamalamadingdong just reinforced whose side he's on.....
If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan’s holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to “Cinco de Cuatro” in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the fourth of May (Cuatro de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word advice would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as proof of what a dunce he is?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he’s a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush’s administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?
If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive?
Can’t think of anything?
Don’t worry.
He’s done all this in 5 months — so you’ll have three years and seven months to come up with an answer.
Namely, George Soros.....
It’s breathtaking, isn’t it? I woke up at 4:30 this morning and saw it on Drudge- I thought I was dreaming..
One of the best posts I’ve ever seen (sans babe photo in it, I mean) - thank you
The words are great.... Obama say all kinds of “stuff” to get him in through the door. Master of misrepresentation. Master of designed failure. Master destroyer of America.
Consistently, accross the board, this marxist has the ability to do what is NOT in the better interests of America. This “new” and “improved” portable system by Acme firecracker will be exactly what he promised, if you understand his promises.
I still love “thats a lie!”
Any kind of missile defense in Europe could grow into something which threatens the ability of the Russian state to bully Eastern and Western Europe (and us) with its nukes. I dreamed that would eventually happen. What a disgusting phenomenon is Russia: a huge country with a smaller GNP than Scandinavia, but the largest nuclear armament in the world. The world will not be safe until Russia collapses or is liberated.
“This is bad news for all who care about the US commitment to the transatlantic alliance and the defence of Europe as well as the United States. It represents the appalling appeasement of Russian aggression and a willingness to sacrifice American allies on the altar of political expediency. A deal with the Russians to cancel missile defence installations sends a clear message that even Washington can be intimidated by the Russian bear.
What signal does this send to Ukraine, Georgia and a host of other former Soviet satellites who look to America and NATO for protection from their powerful neighbour? The impending cancellation of Third Site is a shameful abandonment of Americas friends in eastern and central Europe, and a slap in the face for those who actually believed a key agreement with Washington was worth the paper it was written on.”
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