WARSAW, Poland — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed a missile defense deal with Poland on Wednesday and predicted that future presidents would never undo the controversial anti-missile program.
Speaking to reporters, Rice said that although the pact could be legally voided by a future White House, she believes that it now has a rationale and diplomatic momentum that makes that unlikely.
“I believe that the administrations of the future will recognize both the threat that we face and the substantial commitment that our allies have now taken for missile defense,” she told a Polish journalist.
The Bush administration entered office placing top priority on the goal of developing the missile defense concept in a way that it could never be dismantled. The U.S.-Polish effort is part of a worldwide anti-missile program that remains controversial with critics, who consider it unworkable and destabilizing.
Rice cited U.S. concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions as providing a rationale for the missile program, and the willingness of the Poles and the Czech Republic to participate as providing the needed momentum for the effort.
Rice signed the deal, which culminates a year and a half of talks, with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikoski. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk looked on.
Kaczynski declared that the deal “strengthens the global positioning of the most powerful country in the world.” Rice called it a “landmark.”
Under the agreement, the United States will build and operate 10 interceptor missiles in Poland that the administration says are intended to be able to shoot down long-range missiles from nations such as Iran.
Russian officials believe that although the system is modest, it is the first step in construction of a huge interceptor system that could neutralize Russia’s vast missile force, leaving Moscow vulnerable to a first-strike nuclear attack. They have reacted angrily, and a Russian general said last week that Poland was opening itself to a potential Russian nuclear attack by approving the deal.
