Arming for the future and exorcising the past

The newly minted government of Mirek Topolánek has some catching up to do, it seems.

The U.S. defense sector didn't even wait for its first business day to notify the Czech authorities that it was finally dropping the other shoe on the missile shield issue.

After a year and a half of speculation over the United States' options for where to locate its first anti-missile base abroad, we now know that Poland will likely get the base, while the Czechs will get the radar station that detects the threats.

No doubt the administration of U.S. President George Bush considers these items like Christmas candy, which goes out to good children. Czechs and Poles remain members of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, unlike many of the original members, and the Czechs have renewed their commitments to the worsening anti-terrorist campaigns in Afghanistan.

That Czechs don't feel universally grateful for the base is clear — and somewhat understandable. The original mission of the U.S.-led operations, in the Middle East at least, has long since proven impossible and has cost some 3,000 troops' lives and those of untold numbers of Iraqi civilians.

Also, there's a history, to put it mildly, of arrogant foreign occupiers in the Czech lands installing missile bases without asking how Czechs feel about them. Of course, the U.S. missile defense program and Soviet ballistic missiles could hardly be more different.

The Czech Republic voluntarily joined NATO Jan. 21, 1998, at the behest of Prime Minister Josef Tošovský (who was filling in following Václav Klaus' ouster over a campaign funding scandal), an act that was ratified by Parliament four months later. Membership in the alliance was one of former President Václav Havel's proudest achievements and something Klaus had been readying.

It paved the way toward entry into the European Union and helped establish the Czech Republic as a credible player and contributor on the world stage — and, not incidentally, symbolically put this country's past as a Soviet puppet state securely into the grave.

Admittedly, Czech citizens never voted for NATO membership per se — which may be one reason some are now demanding a referendum on defensive missile facilities. But clearly NATO member countries do not have the luxury of putting each act of participation or support to a public vote; the club needs to be trained, ready and versatile to be viable, and members have already committed themselves to any action deemed necessary. That's just the cost of sharing in the group security.

That said, it's clear the bases in both the Czech Republic and Poland, if they are to go forward — defensive missiles have yet to prove themselves truly viable, it bears mentioning — should be developed with transparency, sensitivity to the communities they will impact, and more thought given to the host country than the United States is known for these days.

All this will prove the most effective weapon against the first threat we're likely to see: the ghost of the old Soviet missiles.

Other articles in Opinion (24/01/2007):

• Keeping warm
• Editorial Review

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