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Monday, June 29, 2009
NELSON WANTS RUSSIA TO PRESSURE IRAN

Source: Lincoln Journal Star

Sen. Ben Nelson said Monday he hopes Russia will be more amenable to a U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe in the wake of Iran’s recent totalitarian behavior.

Nelson expressed strong support for the proposed missile defense system during a telephone conference call from Warsaw.

Russia has strenuously objected to the U.S. plan to locate a missile interceptor site in Poland and a sophisticated radar system in the Czech Republic, both along the Russian border.

Nelson said he hopes Russia will “play a stronger role in convincing the Iranians (to) give up their nuclear ambitions.”

“If the threat of Iran is going to go away,” he said, “then it’s a new ballgame” in terms of the need for a U.S. missile shield designed to defend against Iranian missiles.

Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was in Warsaw for separate meetings with Polish and Russian officials.

The missile shield would send “a strong message about our commitment to NATO,” Nelson said, since it also would protect European allies from a missile strike.

The U.S. needs to defend itself from possible missile attacks from both Iran and North Korea, he said.

A missile interceptor site in Alaska is designed to shield the United States from a North Korean strike, Nelson said.

“We have to prepare for the worst,” he said.

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