Rice urges missile shield completion

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By Nicholas Kralev

PRAGUE | The coming change of administrations in Washington could unravel President Bush's plans for a missile defense shield in Europe, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Tuesday in urging both presidential candidates not to abandon the project.

Miss Rice, who signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to base a tracking radar, conceded that the system is yet to be fully developed.

But she insisted that construction should begin soon nevertheless, because the missile threat from Iran is not "imaginary."

"It´s hard for me to believe that an American president is not going to want to have the capability to defend our territory, the territory of our allies, whether they are in Europe or in the Middle East, against that kind of missile threat," she said.

Miss Rice´s remarks were directed at the two expected presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. Barring unforeseen circumstances, one will be president when construction of the missile defense begins.

A deal similar to the Czech accord with Poland has proved elusive. The Czechs are to host the radar and Poland would host the planned launch site for interceptor missiles.

In Washington on Tuesday, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Mr. McCain, Arizona Republican, would carry out the Bush administration's missile defense plans in Poland if elected.

But Mr. Sikorski said he received no such assurances from Mr. Obama, Illinois Democrat. Although the two spoke by phone Monday, Mr. Sikorski said he avoided discussing missile defense, the most urgent issue in Polish-American relations.

"I did not think it was my business in my first conversation with him to raise a controversial issue," Mr. Sikorski told the Associated Press. The Obama campaign also said the issue did not come up.

Neither of the two presumptive presidential candidates has spoken at length about the European-based plan.

But Mr. McCain supports missile defenses against weapons potentially launched by rogue states or possible future superpowers such as a resurgent Russia or China.

Mr. Obama leans in the opposite direction. "I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space," he said last year.

Critics of the system say there is no proof it works, and the Iran threat is too distant. The Pentagon´s Missile Defense Agency estimates Iran could develop a long-range missile capable of striking the United States by 2015.

"We face with the Iranians, and so do our allies and friends, a growing missile threat that is getting ever longer and ever deeper, and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology is still unchecked," Miss Rice said Tuesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, said Tuesday that he sees no possibility of a war between his country and the United States or Israel.

"I assure you that there won´t be any war in the future," Mr. Ahmadinejad told reporters during a visit to Malaysia for a summit of developing Muslim nations, according to wire reports.

On Monday, Iran´s Revolutionary Guard posted on its Web site a statement quoting guard official Ali Shirazi as saying Iran would retaliate against any military strike by targeting Tel Aviv and U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.

"The Zionist regime is pushing the White House to prepare for a military strike on Iran," Mr. Shirazi was quoted as saying. "If such a stupidity is done by them, Tel Aviv and the U.S. naval fleet in the Persian Gulf will be the first targets which will be set on fire in Iran´s crushing response."

The U.S. Navy´s 5th Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, is responsible for patrolling the Gulf, the Suez Canal and parts of the Indian Ocean.