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Most Poles Opposed to U.S. Missile Shield
- Many adults in Poland disagree with a proposal to join the United States in a defence system, according to a poll by TNS OBOP. 49 per cent of respondents oppose the construction of an anti-missile site in their country.
In December 2002, U.S. president George W. Bush announced plans for the development of initial defence capabilities, which include ground-based and sea-based missile interceptors, as well as sensors located in space.
In 2004, the U.S. approached the governments of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary as possible partners in the missile defence system. On Sept. 13, Polish defence minister Radoslaw Sikorski discussed the situation, saying, "Russia has very frankly communicated its unhappiness to us, the prospect of the U.S. planting a missile defence base in Poland. Clearly, we have to take this Russian view, a power neighbour of ours, into account. And that makes us even more insistent on a package of measures that would hypothetically come with a missile defence base, if the U.S. asks for it."
Poland currently has 900 soldiers in central Iraq, as part of a multinational force. In March 2004, then-president Aleksander Kwasniewski said Poland was "misled" into the coalition effort, but added that Iraq today "is a much better place than Iraq with Saddam Hussein."
Polling Data
Do you support or oppose the construction of an anti-missile site in Poland?
Support | 33% |
Oppose | 49% |
Not sure | 18% |
Source: TNS OBOP
Methodology: Interviews to 1,015 Polish adults, conducted from Sept. 7 to Sept. 11, 2006. No margin of error was provided.