By Dan Calabrese —— Bio and Archives May 13, 2016
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"As long as Iran continues to develop and deploy ballistic missiles, the United States will work with its allies to defend NATO," said U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, standing in front of the shield's massive gray concrete housing that was adorned with a U.S. flag. Despite Washington's plans to continue to develop the capabilities of its system, Work said the shield would not be used against any future Russian missile threat. "There are no plans at all to do that," he told a news conference.
Before the ceremony, Frank Rose, deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control, warned that Iran's ballistic missiles can hit parts of Europe, including Romania. When complete, the defensive umbrella will stretch from Greenland to the Azores. On Friday, the United States will break ground on a final site in Poland due to be ready by late 2018, completing the defense line first proposed almost a decade ago. The full shield also includes ships and radars across Europe. It will be handed over to NATO in July, with command and control run from a U.S. air base in Germany. Russia is incensed at such of show of force by its Cold War rival in formerly communist-ruled eastern Europe. Moscow says the U.S.-led alliance is trying to encircle it close to the strategically important Black Sea, home to a Russian naval fleet and where NATO is also considering increasing patrols.What is the logic of activating a missile defense site, but vowing you will only use it to shoot down missiles from certain countries and not from others? The Russians have been upset about the idea of a U.S. missile defense system ever since the days of the Soviet Union and "Star Wars" (which was the left's derisive name for Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative). The correct answer to their objection has always been simple: If you don't want this to be a problem for you, don't launch any missile attacks against us. Easy peasy.
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