England Is Possible Site For New U.S. Defense System
Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer London, England (AHN) - The Pentagon is in talks for the possibility of establishing a new missile defense system in England for its European base. American defense planners are exploring whether the British government would allow the installment of interceptor missiles and radar developed to curb ballistic missiles fired by terrorists, The Times reported, based on unnamed British officials. Primarily, the United States was looking at either Poland or the Czech Republic, but has considered England because of protests from the two central European countries. "A few weeks ago it looked like we were out of the woods on this one," an unnamed senior British source was quoted as saying. He added, "That has changed because Central Europe no longer looks like such an easy option." The head of the US missile defense agency, General Henry Obering, claimed that he will make recommendations on the issue in the following months. If ever, the European site will be the first expansion outside of the United States of an untested US missile defense system. It is set to block a possible limited long-range missile attack by North Korea. According to The Times, Riki Ellison, head of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a pressure group, said: "The UK has always been the fall-back option and there is some concern about whether Poland and the Czech Republic will turn out |
