Rice Says McCain, Obama Should Support Missile Defense
During today’s signing ceremony in Prague, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked about the role of presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama on the future of missile defense. While she declined to wade into presidential politics, Rice made clear that both candidates should maintain the path developed by the Bush administration.
“Here is the case for missile defense – and by the way, it is already a system that is paying some benefit. I think it is known that at the time of the North Korean missile test, we were able to use certain initial operating capabilities to protect ourselves, had the North Korean missile test resulted in a threat to the United States. It’s hard for me to believe that that’s not a capability that an American president is going to want. We were able to use some of the capabilities when we were all threatened by a satellite that was tumbling to earth with hazardous materials. It is hard for me to believe that that is a capability an American president is not going to want to have.
“But most importantly, we face with the Iranians – and so do our allies and friends, a growing missile threat that is getting ever longer and ever deeper, and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology as – to this point is still unchecked. And it’s hard for me to believe that an American president is not going to want to have the capability to defend our territory, the territory of our allies, whether they are in Europe or whether they are in the Middle East, against that kind of missile threat.”
Rice’s optimistic outlook doesn’t necessarily match the views of at least one candidate. Last fall Obama made hostile remarks about missile defense in a video for Caucus4Priorities. “I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space. I will slow our development of future combat system.”
Since then, Obama has not addressed the issue. Even during a visit with the Democrat last week, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said he avoided talking about missile defense with Obama because he didn’t want their first meeting to include a controversial matter.
McCain spells out his support for missile defense on his campaign website. In his meeting with Sikorski, McCain signaled that he would continue the Bush administration’s missile defense goals.
Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, Poland