Sunday, February 22, 2009

**Missile defense must not be idled

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_612724.html

PITTSBURGH TRIB: •Q: Why is it so important that this missile-defense installation go in?

•A: There are obviously several reasons, but let's start with the one that I think is most immediate, which is the political one: That is that the United States and Poland and the Czech Republic have all arrived at the conclusion that it is important for them on a bilateral basis to reinforce the basic alliance commitments that are present in the NATO structure and that anything that could be seen as breaking those bonds, either in the NATO context or in the bilateral context, would be very, very damaging and I think would invite more aggressive behavior on the part of Russia and other states.