Michal Baranowski, of the Warsaw office of the German Marshall Fund, explains why.
“The presence would signal continuous American engagement in Europe, and in Poland in particular, which provides a strengthened guarantee of security for Poland. So making sure that the U.S. still looks to this part of Europe is something key for the Polish public and the Polish politicians,” said Baranowski.
Until 2009, Poland and the Czech Republic had been slated to host an American anti-ballistic missile shield. But these plans were scrapped. Instead, more mobile SM-3 interceptors will be deployed in Poland, as well as a possible rotation of F-16 warplanes.
SM-3 anti-missiles are good. But they are not "more mobile." I don't know where they get that. They will be stationary launchers. Perhaps they are more "movable" than the bigger Bush plan missiles, but they are not more mobile.
The F-16s would also be nice. Not mentioned are Patriot anti-aircraft missiles that I'd like to see becomes a permanent deployment. I'd also like to see us put material configured in unit sets in Poland so we could quickly fly in troops from the United States to man the stuff and have a couple heavy brigades to assist existing Europe-based American forces to defend Poland.
Poland deserves our help. They've helped us in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they have a history of getting stomped because they are surrounded by strong powers.
