WASHINGTON — President Bush promised Poland's visiting prime minister on Monday that the United States would help modernize the country's military, as Poland moved closer to joining a U.S.-sponsored missile defense system.
Bush's Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk followed a similar conference last month with the Czech prime minister, who said Prague was close to an agreement with Washington on the missile defense arrangement.
The U.S. says it is seeking to install a missile-detection radar system in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland to defend against any missiles launched in the Middle East.
With Tusk at his side, Bush said that "before my watch is over," the United States and Poland would "come up with a modernization plan" for Polish forces, which are seeking to acquire a Patriot antimissile system. Bush's aides insisted that Poland's eased objections to the U.S. deployment of missile interceptors on Polish territory was not a quid pro quo for military aid. However, the president linked the two, pledging the modernization assistance and then saying, "Along those lines," he and Tusk discussed the risk posed by "a missile with dangerous materials in its warhead."
The proposed missile defense network has become perhaps the most sensitive issue in U.S.-Russian relations. President Vladimir V. Putin has denounced it as a threat to his nation's defense. Bush has insisted that it would be used to protect part of Europe and the United States from any missiles launched by Iran or terrorist groups.
Bush said a missile equipped with nuclear, chemical or biological warheads is "the most significant" security threat of the 21st century, and he assured Tusk that "this system is not aimed at Russia."
He said he would continue to give Putin similar assurances.
Tusk, speaking through an interpreter, called plans for the missile defense system and the modernization of Polish forces "very good." He expressed support for the proposal to protect Poland from "any undue security risks," but cautioned that work remained on the diplomatic front, saying, "A strategy on paper is a little different from the details."
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said that the Pentagon would evaluate Poland's air defense needs and that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates would then review those needs with Polish officials.
