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FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9637
INFO RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW 3278
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1902

UNCLAS PRAGUE 001080 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
H PASS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL MARR NATO OVIP EZ
SUBJECT: CODEL TAUSCHER DISPELS MYTHS ON MISSILE DEFENSE DURING 
PRAGUE VISIT 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  CODEL Tauscher delivered a clear and effective 
message to Czech politicians and the public about Congressional 
views on the planned U.S. missile defense (MD) radar.  The visit 
helped dispel a number of persistent myths by making clear that 
there is bipartisan Congressional support for the Polish 
interceptors as well as the Czech radar, that MD has strong support 
among Democrats, and that NATO is seen as a critical element of any 
future MD system.  This message was well received by both government 
supporters of MD and skeptics.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) CODEL Tauscher visited Prague September 14-15, the final stop 
after Brussels and Warsaw on a trip devoted to missile defense.  The 
CODEL was led by Ellen Tauscher, Chairman of the HASC Strategic 
Forces Subcommittee, and included subcommittee members Jim Cooper 
and Michael Turner.  Deputy Assistance Secretary of Defense for 
Legislative Affairs Lisa Marie Cheney accompanied the CODEL, along 
with HASC Deputy Staff Director Bob DeGrasse and HASC Professional 
Staff Members Frank Rose and Kari Bingen Tytler.  In Prague the 
CODEL met with PM Mirek Topolanek, Deputy PM Sasha Vondra, Deputy FM 
Tomas Pojar, Social Democratic (CSSD) Party Chairman Jiri Paroubek, 
and several Members of Parliament including Jan Hamacek, Chairman of 
the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Ondrej Liska, Chairman of the 
European Affairs Committee.  The CODEL gave a press conference and 
also addressed the press with the Prime Minister and Deputy PM. 
 
CODEL'S MESSAGE 
 
¶3. (SBU) Chairman Tauscher gave a consistent message in both private 
meetings and public statements.  The main themes were: 
-- Bipartisan:  missile defense has strong bipartisan support in the 
Congress, and this includes the European (or "third") site in the 
Czech Republic and Poland; all the leading contenders for President 
in 2008 support MD, so there is no reason to delay progress on the 
European site until after the election 
-- Budget:  the cuts to the administration's FY2008 funding request 
for the European site are the direct result of increased 
Congressional oversight of MD spending and should not be interpreted 
as a Congressional effort to slow or kill the European site; since 
negotiations will continue with both Poland and the Czech Republic 
during much of FY2008, it was a prudent step to allocate funding to 
other priorities; however, the Congress has made clear that once 
agreements with the two countries are signed and ratified, the 
Secretary of Defense can ask for funds to be reprogrammed 
 
SIPDIS 
-- NATO:  the European site should be "NATO-ized" as quickly as 
possible and become one piece of a "system of systems" that provides 
comprehensive coverage to all NATO allies from a range of existing 
and emerging missile threats (put differently, the U.S. system in 
the Czech Republic and Poland needs to be "bolted on" to the NATO 
system of systems); NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer is 
accelerating work towards this goal, but it is the responsibility of 
all member states to work towards this goal, and notably to achieve 
a strong result at the spring Bucharest Summit 
-- Threat:  our immediate effort needs to be protection of Europe's 
southern flank from the existing threat of short- and medium-range 
missiles from Iran; mobile systems provide the best defense; but at 
the same time we need to move ahead quickly to prepare for defenses 
against the emerging threat from medium- to long-range weapons 
(i.e., the European site in the Czech Republic and Poland); we need 
to work with all NATO partners, and particularly the French, to 
convince skeptics that the threat is real, and ideally to declassify 
threat information 
-- Single system:  the radar planned for the Czech Republic and the 
fixed interceptors in Poland form a single system and are 
"indivisible" 
-- Politics:  in meetings with opposition politicians, Chairman 
Tauscher urged them to not play politics with national security 
issues and to pay attention to the threat; she repeatedly expressed 
her readiness to work closely with the Czech government and 
opposition figures to help win support for the MD initiative, 
including during CSSD Chairman Paroubek's planned fall trip to the 
United States.  She directly asked for Paroubek's support for MD. 
 
PRIME MINISTER& DEPUTY PM 
 
¶4. (SBU) Both Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and Deputy PM Sasha 
Vondra expressed strong government support for MD.  They highlighted 
the divided domestic political scene, but both expressed certainty 
that negotiations would reach a positive conclusion.  They noted the 
importance of the messages CODEL Tauscher brought to Prague in terms 
of minimizing local opposition, and both arranged press conferences 
after their meeting to showcase the CODEL's themes.   Topolanek and 
Vondra both stressed that the hosting of U.S. MD assets is in the 
Czechs' national interest, and made reference to the unstable 
geo-political situation (i.e., a resurgent Russia) to bolster their 
case.  While both stressed that they are not putting any conditions 
on accepting the radar, they expressed their hope that the radar 
would spur new high-tech investments, supporting a government focus 
on increasing research and development; they asked for any support 
in this direction that the Congress could provide. 
 
 
DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER 
 
¶5. (SBU) Deputy FM Tomas Pojar, the lead Czech negotiator on the MD 
Agreement, echoed many of Topolanek's points.   In terms of the 
negotiations, he explained there are "many months of very hard work 
ahead," especially on the SOFA Supplemental, but expressed 
confidence that agreements will be reached.  Expanding on government 
thinking as to why the MD facility is important, Pojar offered three 
reasons:  first, as a continuation of the historical ties between 
the U.S. and Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia (including support in the 
founding of the country and liberation after WWII); second, because 
of the reality of the emerging threat from the Middle East; third, 
because of the geo-political situation, including Russian attempts 
to exert influence in Central Europe.  Expanding on the last point, 
Pojar outlined his fear that if MD does not become a central focus 
of NATO, the U.S. system will cover only North America, and this 
could lead eventually to a splintering of NATO, raising the specter 
of a U.S. withdrawal from the Alliance. 
 
SKEPTICAL MPs 
 
¶6. (SBU) CODEL Tauscher had separate meetings with CSSD Deputy Jan 
Hamacek, Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Green Deputy 
Ondrej Liska, Chair of the European Affairs Committee.  Both are 
bright, young, first-time MPs who have been skeptics of the MD 
project to date.  Both traveled to Washington earlier this year and 
returned to Prague concerned that the European project did not have 
strong Democratic support.  In separate meetings, CODEL Tauscher was 
able to allay many of their concerns, specifically relating to 
domestic U.S. politics.  Both are very concerned about NATO, and 
clearly appreciated the CODEL's strong and persuasive approach to 
"NATOizing" MD, and the clear statement that the Czech and Polish 
pieces of the European site are indivisible.  Both expressed 
interest in continuing to work closely with Members of Congress in 
the months ahead. 
 
OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER PAROUBEK 
 
¶7. (SBU) CODEL Tauscher's meeting with CSSD Chairman Jiri Paroubek 
came just hours after the leaders of Social Democratic parties from 
the Central European states issued a declaration in Prague stating 
their opposition to the U.S. MD project.  Chairman Tauscher and 
other CODEL members noted their concern with this statement, which 
did not reflect any awareness of the threat.  Noting that her 
message addresses many of the themes that Paroubek has previously 
identified as important to him and his party, Tauscher encouraged 
Paroubek not to play politics with national security matters and to 
look closely at the threat.  As he has in previous meetings with 
American officials, Paroubek stated that he personally has no 
opposition to MD, but that he cannot take a more positive stance 
when over 80% of his party are opposed.  He offered several openings 
however:  he told CODEL (and the press) that he is prepared to 
change his position if convinced that the threat is not "virtual," 
he suggested that he could move the party in a different direction 
if only 65% of the party were opposed, and he promised to abide by 
any MD agreement that is ratified should he become prime minister in 
the future.  Paroubek also explained the domestic context for his 
stance, notably the success he has had to date in reducing support 
for the Communist Party, a process that could be reversed if he were 
to take a more positive stance on MD.  Paroubek said he hoped to see 
Chairman Tauscher during his planned autumn visit to the United 
States. 
 
PRESS 
 
¶8. (U) CODEL Tauscher received extensive press coverage in both 
broadcast and print media; the reporting was factual and extremely 
effective in advancing our public effort on MD.  The CODEL's clear 
statements punctured many myths (that the Congress opposes the 
Polish interceptors, that Democrats oppose MD, that it is foolish to 
conclude agreements in advance of the 2008 elections) and made clear 
that NATO will be a centerpiece of U.S. engagement.  The timing was 
especially good in relation to the Central European Social 
Democrats' declaration:  Paroubek's comments after meeting with 
CODEL Tauscher were much more moderate than we would have expected 
after a major political meeting and tended to blunt the impact of 
the political declaration.  The visit made a strong contribution to 
the Czech-U.S. effort to relaunch the public debate on MD. 
GRABER