US general urges Obama to keep missile defense

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-13 10:03

WASHINGTON -- Despite objections by Russia, the outgoing head of the US Missile Defense Agency urged President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday to stick to the Bush administration's plans to place missile defenses in Eastern Europe.

Dropping the planned installation of missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic "would severely hurt" US ability to protect against Iran's growing missile force, said Lt. Gen. Henry Obering of the Air Force.

Director of US missile defence agency Lt. Gen. Henry Obering answers questions from the media after he was honoured with a Cross of Defence of the state in Prague October 31, 2008. [Agencies]

It would also undermine US leadership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which fears "an emerging threat from Iran that must be addressed," he told reporters in a teleconference.

Obering, who is retiring from the Air Force, hands over the the Missile Defense Agency next Friday to his deputy, Maj. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly.

It is important to continue work on the planned European installations or risk "falling behind the power curve" as Iran develops its capabilities, Obering said. "That's why we have to kind of stay ahead of this threat, not try to catch up after the fact."

Obama, who is to be sworn in as president on January 20, has said he would make sure any missile defense system has been proven to work before it is deployed. Obering said he had confidence in the system based on the success of 36 of 45 test missile intercepts since 2001.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last week that Moscow would station short-range missiles near Poland's border to "neutralize" US plans for interceptors in Poland and a related radar in the Czech Republic.

Obering said the United States should continue to seek to engage Russia in cooperating on missile defense. "I cannot believe that the Russians truly believe these are a threat to their security," he said.

Obering noted that Iran and North Korea were making significant investments in developing missiles of increasing range.

Iran said it test-fired a new generation of surface-to-surface missile using solid fuel on Wednesday and that the Islamic Republic was ready to defend itself against any attacker.

Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said the Sejil missile had a range of close to 2,000 km (1,200 miles), almost as far as another Iranian missile, the Shahab 3. That would enable it to reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf.

Obering said that the test-firing would represent "a major step up" in Iranian capabilities if what Tehran said about the latest launch is true.