Twenty members of the U.S. House of Representatives are sponsoring a resolution calling on the Obama administration to move ahead with deployment of missile defenses in Europe, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said yesterday (see GSN, April 16).
House Resolution 319, submitted on April 2, expresses "the sense of the House of Representatives that the president should take all necessary steps to expeditiously deploy a missile defense system in Europe that will help provide such a defense to United States allies in Europe while enhancing United States defenses against missile attacks."
The Bush administration proposed to field 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic to provide defense against developing missile threats, particularly from Iran (see GSN, April 15). Leaders in both European nations signed off on the installations, but the plan is vehemently opposed by Russia and has run afoul of the Czech parliament (see GSN, April 6).
U.S. President Barack Obama said recently that his decision on the shield would be based on the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the technology and on the threat posed by Iran.
The resolution identifies a number of threats that illustrate the need for the European system, including possible strikes involving WMD-tipped missiles and suspected Iranian efforts to develop weapons that could reach Europe or the United States.
"Deploying United States missile defense assets in Europe would serve as a deterrent to missile attacks by rogue regimes against both the United States and Europe and hopefully serve as a disincentive for them to invest in the very development of such missile capabilities, thereby enhancing United States nonproliferation objectives," the resolution states (U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen release, April 16).