A US prototype interceptor missile.

With its planned new missile defense system, sometimes known as "Son of Star Wars," Washington wants to create a battery of defenses capable of protecting the United States and its allies from oncoming missiles -- nuclear or otherwise. A working version of the defense system does not yet exist and a number of tests have resulted in failure, but Pentagon officials are already scouring Eastern Europe for potential bases for the defense system. The multi-billion dollar project, which could bring with it hundreds of jobs for Europeans, will use the most modern technology and entail the stationing of interceptor ballistic missiles for shooting down long-range missiles from rogue states before they can strike targets in the US or Europe.

Since any missiles launched from Iran or North Korea aimed at Western Europe would have to pass over Polish or Czech airspace, both countries have been seen by Washington as strategically valuable potential hosts for the defense system. But Pentagon representatives meeting last week with officials in Warsaw and Prague came up against unexpected resistance. The problem lies in the fact that Washington is insisting that any base be considered a sovereign US installation on foreign soil. American soldiers would not be operating under Polish law and the Polish military could only be given access to the bases with Washington's blessing. In addition, the exlusive decision-making on defense missile launches would be made by the Americans, despite the fact that Poland could also be accountable for any such actions under international law. For Eastern European countries that just gained their sovereignty with the fall of the Iron Curtain, memories of occupation by Russian soldiers are still fresh and the Pentagon proposal is a prickly one. Poland's conservative nationalist president, Lech Kaczynski, has voiced his concerns about the project, saying, "I approach the problem of extra-territoriality with reserve, I won't hide that."