Anyone who reads this blog for more than five seconds knows that I view Obama as a radical leftist who is bent on destroying the free-market capitalist system in America – and dismantling the United States as a Super Power.
That said … some Conservative bloggers today are calling Ogabe a “flip-flopper” on missile defense – but it’s not true. I would love to charge Ogabe with another blunder – but you can’t here. Well – you can … but not the blunder most people are charging him with.
Let’s recap … last month, the Obama administration unexpectedly scrapped the Bush Missile Defense Plan for Poland and Czechoslovakia …
Now the way Ogabe did this … suddenly and without warning to our allies – was irresponsible and erratic. The fact that he made this announcement on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland was even more idiotic. This all proves that the “brain trust” in the Ogabe White House is about as deep and broad as a kid who gets a great idea to piss on an electric fence.
However, to be fair … the White House DID say at the time that the Bush Missile Defense plan in Europe was being scrapped in favor of a more capable system that could be deployed in Europe sooner.
President Obama has approved the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a phased, adaptive approach for missile defense in Europe. This approach is based on an assessment of the Iranian missile threat, and a commitment to deploy technology that is proven, cost-effective, and adaptable to an evolving security environment.
Starting around 2011, this missile defense architecture will feature deployments of increasingly-capable sea- and land-based missile interceptors, primarily upgraded versions of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), and a range of sensors in Europe to defend against the growing ballistic missile threat from Iran. This phased approach develops the capability to augment our current protection of the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats, and to offer more effective defenses against more near-term ballistic missile threats. The plan provides for the defense of U.S. deployed forces, their families, and our Allies in Europe sooner and more comprehensively than the previous program, and involves more flexible and survivable systems.
Note here that the very first line the White House claims this new plan was developed by Robert Gates and the Department of Defense. I don’t know about you – but I TRUST the word of Robert Gates. What did Gates say about this?
According to the New York Times last month …
“Those who say we are scrapping missile defense in Europe are either misinformed or misrepresenting the reality of what we are doing,” Mr. Gates said. He added that the new configuration “provides a better missile defense capability” for Europe and American forces “than the program I recommended almost three years ago.”
And here’s the “money shot” … Robert Gates explains a bit of how the new missile defense system will look …
Mr. Obama stressed that Mr. Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff supported the decision, and he sent Mr. Gates, a Republican first appointed by Mr. Bush, to discuss the decision with reporters. Mr. Gates said that the new system would put defenses in place seven years earlier than the Bush plan. While no longer deploying the original interceptors in Poland, the United States “would prefer to put the SM-3s in Poland,” Mr. Gates said.
So Gates said a month ago that they’d like put new SM-3 interceptors in Poland.
The Obama plan would place SM-3 anti-ballistic missiles at a former air base in the town of Redzikowo in northern Poland — the same site that was to host U.S. missile interceptors in underground silos under the Bush plan.
It sounds to me like Gates came up with a better system and convinced Ogabe to go for it. It now looks like we get MORE missiles in Europe SOONER under this new plan than under the old Bush plan. The Bush missiles would have gone into deployment in 2018 … but according to the White House (last month) … this new system is deployed three years sooner – in 2015 …
Phase Two (in the 2015 timeframe) – After appropriate testing, deploy a more capable version of the SM-3 interceptor (Block IB) in both sea- and land-based configurations, and more advanced sensors, to expand the defended area against short- and medium-range missile threats;
The Bush plan was for a field of 10 big missiles. This new plan could reach 40 to 50 missiles. Now – they are smaller missiles – but Gates seems to think this is the way to go.
Where’s the flip flop? We need to be careful here in accusing Ogabe of anything sinister. This has all the marks of good decision making in the DoD which they were miraculously able to convince Ogabe to back.
It is certainly not a model of diplomacy when the leaders of Poland and the Czech Republic are informed of such a decision at the last minute in midnight phone calls. It took a long time and lot of political courage in those countries to arrange for our interceptor system in Poland and the radar system in the Czech Republic. Our Polish and Czech friends are entitled to wonder how strategic plans and promises years in the making could be dissolved, just like that – with apparently little, if any, consultation. Seventy years to the day after the Soviets invaded Poland, it was an odd way to mark the occasion.
Absolutely true … but Cheney falls for “the line” here …
In the short of it, President Obama’s cancellation of America’s agreements with the Polish and Czech governments was a serious blow to the hopes and aspirations of millions of Europeans. For twenty years, these peoples have done nothing but strive to move closer to us, and to gain the opportunities and security that America offered. These are faithful friends and NATO allies, and they deserve better. The impact of making two NATO allies walk the plank won’t be felt only in Europe. Our friends throughout the world are watching and wondering whether America will abandon them as well.
Cheney is both right and wrong. He’s right that Ogabe’s diplomatic handling of the missile defense issue is abhorrent. He’s wrong that we really abandoned the Poles and the Czechs – although … it sure looked like we did.
What Ogabe should have done is this … he should have gone to the Czechs and the Poles and told them he wanted to “renegotiate” the deal to include larger numbers of smaller missiles – and he should have explained his strategic rationale for doing it. They would have gone for it with no problems. Then he could have jointly announced the strategic shift with them and the problem would have been solved.
What Ogabe needs to do now is include the Czechs in on the new SM-3 missile deal. I don’t know if Gates wanted to put missiles there but he needs to find a way to include them. That’s a diplomatic issue but I’m sure the Czechs can be asset to our missile defense system.
This really could have all been avoided if Ogabe were a competent President.
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