The Elimination of European Missile Defense .... Some Comments

BMEWS solid-state phased-array radar at RAF Fylindales.

Missile Mystery -- Newsweek

The missile-defense shield was a fantasy to begin with. So why did Russia and Eastern Europe obsess over it?

Barack Obama has finally called time on the Bush administration's controversial plan to build a missile-defense shield in Eastern Europe. The announcement caused widespread consternation. The Czechs and the Poles, who had hoped that the system would somehow protect them against Russian aggression, were appalled. (The Polish prime minister refused to take a call from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton informing him of the decision.) Conservative Americans, who counted on the missile shield to contain Iranian missiles, decried Obama’s move as dangerous, or even treasonous. Only Russia, which believed that the system would somehow impair their ability to use their own nuclear missiles, was delighted. The real question, though, isn't whether Obama is right or wrong about the system's efficacy. (He's obviously right.) The real question why everybody cares so much. How did a piece of technology years from reality work its way to the center of so many diplomatic crises?

Read more ....

My Comment: When President Reagan first announced the SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) program in the 1980s, critics of the program quickly labeled it as fantasy and/or cowboy politics. It was Senator Kennedy and his colleagues who coined the term .... Star Wars .... and all the pundits at the time called such a program a waste of money and totally unrealistic. 25 years later .... Newsweek is saying exactly the same thing.

What Newsweek ignores is that this fantasy became reality after a decade of research and development. The Aegis system is probably the biggest accomplishment of this program, and is now an essential element to our defense. It is also the program that President Obama is touting as the means to protect us against Iranian missile proliferation.

My problem with the decision that was made yesterday was the absence of consultation with our allies on what was going to happen. The White House made a review, realized that it would not fit into its commitments to improving U.S. - Russian relations, and then made the decision to wipe out the program. No debate in Congress. No discussion with our allies. No input from outside experts. No media coverage. This was a unilateral decision done with the outcome decided months ago. A pure political move with .... as far as I can tell .... no quid pro quo from Russia.

What is infuriating is that the alternatives that President Obama is talking about our just ideas on a piece of paper. There has been no feasibility studies. No examination on the consequences of installing radar systems in Turkey or Israel?!?!? No laying the groundwork for getting the necessary political support from these countries that would permit these systems .... nothing .... nada ... no work or planning to do work has even been proposed.

Yesterday's decision means that more money is going to be spent. More time will be lost. And we are now going to have an outcome that we are not sure about.

What I do know is that we have distanced ourselves from our allies. We have embolden hard core radicals in Moscow who have no interest in accomodating any of our interests. We appear lost and confused in the eyes of our allies .... and weak in front of our enemies.

I am witnessing amateur hour at the White House .... which is suprising because I know that President Obama can do much better.