Bush: Iran's Long-Range Missiles Pose Grave Threat

Bush: Iran's long-range missiles pose grave threat

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/916320.html

By Shmuel Rosner

WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W. Bush described the deployment of a missile defense system in Europe essential in light of Iran's development of long-range ballistic missiles.

In a speech at the National Defense University, Bush said Iran had developed long-range ballistic missiles parallel to its efforts to develop nuclear arms, and that these posed a threat to European countries friendly to the U.S. Advertisement

He also said U.S. intelligence estimated that over the next eight years, and before 2015, Iran will have developed an inter-continental ballistic missile capable of targeting North America.

Bush said that the threat posed by Iran needs to be taken seriously, and that there should be no delay, since at this moment, the Unied States is unable to provide protection for European countries against Iranian missile strikes.

Cooler relations
The U.S. administration's wish to deploy a limited missile defense system in Europe has resulted in a cooling of relations with Russia and has emerged as a major issue of dispute with Putin's Kremlin.

In recent weeks, the U.S. announced it would be willing to once again address the need to deploy such defensive systems in Europe, if Russia would be willing to step up its efforts to block Iran's quest for nuclear weapons.

He needs to hire a new speech writer, he said the same thing about Iraq.