DAR AL HARB - U.S.A./RUSSIA: PUTIN SUGGESTS A SECOND AND THIRD SITE FOR MISSILE DEFENSE TO THE UNITED STATES

New sites named for missile defense
Bush gets an OK from Poland as Putin suggests Turkey, Iraq or the open sea
By James Gerstenzang

As President Bush received an endorsement yesterday in Poland for placing missile interceptors there, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin presented a second alternative in two days for where the U.S. should install the missile-defense system.

The Russian president, speaking at a news conference at the end of Group of Eight summit, said the interceptors could be located in Turkey, or perhaps in Iraq or at sea. A day earlier, he caught U.S. officials by surprise in suggesting that an existing Russian-run radar system in Azerbaijan be used to protect Europe from a possible attack by Iran. Bush has been planning to build a radar facility in the Czech Republic.

The missile defense debate has colored the U.S.-Russian relationship for weeks, with Putin contending that the system envisaged by Washington would be considered a threat to Russia and could force him to retarget Russian missiles toward Europe.

The United States has said that the system would remain defensive in nature and would be intended only to protect Europe from a possible Iranian attack of still-to-be-developed long-range missiles.

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Pertinent Links:

1) New sites named for missile defense