President-elect Barack Obama's private conversation with Poland's president created an international disagreement Saturday, with President Lech Kaczynski saying Mr. Obama promised to continue a missile-defense system and the transition office saying the Democrat made no such commitment.
President Bush's White House declined to weigh in on the Friday phone call between the Polish leader and Mr. Obama, who will take office Jan. 20.
Mr. Obama has spoken with at least 15 world leaders including Mr. Kaczynski and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Mr. Kaczynski issued a statement in the Polish-language section of his Web site saying the U.S. president-elect "emphasized the importance of the strategic partnership of Poland and the United States and expressed hope in the continuation of political and military cooperation between our countries. He also said that the missile-defense project would continue."
Obama senior foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough released a statement once the news came from Poland.
"President-elect had a good conversation with the Polish president and the Polish prime minister about the important U.S.-Poland alliance," Mr. McDonough said. "President Kaczynski raised missile defense but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it. His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile-defense system when the technology is proved to be workable."
Mr. Obama was skeptical of the missile shield during the campaign, saying it would require much more rigorous testing to ensure it would work and justify its cost.
The U.S. and Poland signed an agreement in August for basing American interceptor missiles in Poland as part of a shield against possible missile attacks from Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.
BAD CONNECTION: Polish President Lech Kaczynski (left) and President-elect Barack Obama had different interpretations of a telephone conversation Friday over U.S. missile-defense plans. (Bloomberg News)
A missile shield set up so close to its borders has been a sore point with Russia and has dented its battered relationship with the U.S.
Apparently, the rest of the world needs to catch up on Barack Obama's favorite political position: fencesitting, and going back on commitments!
They better get used to it (especially our allies), we'll see how happy they are with his election in about a year!
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a harsh critic of U.S. missile-defense plans, talked with President-elect Barack Obama by phone Saturday.
On Wednesday, the day after Mr. Obama won the election, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the Kremlin would move short-range missiles to Russia's borders with NATO allies, even as the U.S. offered new proposals on nuclear arms reductions as well as offering to have Russian observers at the planned missile-defense sites.
Under the U.S. plan, 10 interceptor missiles would be placed in Poland and radar systems would be located in the Czech Republic. Mr. Bush wanted construction of the shield to begin before he left office in January with a completion date of 2012.
Defense Department analysts say more interceptor testing is required, which could delay the program for years.
Mr. Obama spoke to Mr. Medvedev on Saturday. A Kremlin statement
