PRAGUE, Czech Republic — The United States and leaders of the Czech Republic agreed Tuesday to place a radar system in this former Soviet satellite that would warn of long-range missiles coming to Europe from the Middle East.
But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice turned old Cold War rhetoric away from Moscow and toward Tehran as she signed the first solid treaty in what have been difficult negotiations.
Iran looms as an ever-larger threat and the next U.S. president is unlikely to walk away from the missile defense system the Bush administration is trying to establish in Eastern Europe, Rice said.
“We face with the Iranians, and so do our allies and friends, a growing missile threat that is growing ever longer and ever deeper and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology to this point is still unchecked,” Rice said after signing the Czech agreement. “It’s hard for me to believe that an American president is not going to want to have the capability to defend our territory (and) the territory of our allies.”
The proposed U.S. missile defense system calls for a tracking radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland. Moscow has threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic.
Shortly after the treaty was signed, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow would be forced to initiate a military response if the deal goes ahead. It did not give specifics of what the response would entail.
Largely untested, expensive and unpopular among large majorities of the former East Bloc nations where it would be based, the theoretical missile shield also represents a potential foreign policy success that the Bush administration could pocket in its waning months.
Only about a third of Czechs say they support the deal. Hundreds gathered in a Prague downtown square to protest the agreement, waving banners with slogans such as “It’s not over yet,” and “Condoleezza is not welcome!”
“The agreement between the Czech and the U.S. government is consistent with the attitude of Czech government which completely ignores the will of about 70 percent of Czech population,” said Jan Tamas, an organizer of the rally.
Rice said earlier Tuesday that the Poles are not ready to sign a similar agreement now and that there was little point in visiting Warsaw until the government there makes a move.
