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Wednesday, April 02, 2008
SLUPSK, Poland: Residents of this northern Polish town are up in arms at the prospect of being placed once again in the front line of power plays between Moscow and Washington.

A nearby communist-era military base could soon host a disputed US missile shield that has enraged Poland’s former overlord Russia, sparking a war of words between the Cold War superpower rivals.

The prospect of the mothballed site at Redzikowo, a district of Slupsk, again becoming a military hub reminds locals of the period when Poland was part the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact military alliance.

“In the event of war, we were in the first line of fire. The Russians had their forces concentrated in this region,” a 50-year-old resident told AFP. “A US base? ... we saw worse with the Soviet warheads hidden in our forests,” said the man — a retired soldier who had worked at the base during the communist era. “Anyway, no one is interested in our opinion,” he said.

“Poland is just a pawn in the game. It seems the decision has already been taken. Foreign companies are looking at the old base’s airport,” he added, jabbing his finger at a barbed-wire fence.

The fence surrounds the derelict 400-hectare former Polish army and air force base, complete with a 2.3-km runway, which once hosted 2,500 soldiers. Washington wants to site 10 interceptor missiles there and a tracking radar in the neighbouring Czech Republic by 2012.

US leaders insist the system is designed to ward off potential ballistic missile attacks by so-called “rogue” states, notably Iran, but Moscow has blasted the plan as a national security threat on its doorstep. Russia is also riled by what it sees as US encroachment in its Cold War-era stamping ground. Poland broke from the crumbling communist bloc in 1989 and joined Nato 10 years later.

Besides the Polish military base, the Soviet Red Army was also stationed in this area of northern Poland perched on the Baltic coast, most notably at the top-security site at nearby Borne-Sulinowo.

With Poles fearful the silos could again make their country a target, Warsaw is demanding extra security guarantees from Washington before deciding whether to accept the missiles. Although Mariusz Chmiel, borough mayor of Redzikowo, acknowledged “the region is ideal for military sites”, but said he would rather the base be used for non-military purposes.

“We would have preferred to have a civilian airport to develop tourism and the economy,” he said. The sandy beaches of the Baltic are just 10-km away. Thick forests attract hunters, while anglers fish for trout in the area’s pristine rivers.

“No one will want to come here to spend their vacation,” said Urszula Kosiniak, a local who took part in a recent protest in Slupsk against the shield plan. In March, an opinion poll suggested 60 per cent of Slupsk’s 100,000 residents opposed the project. Thirty per cent welcomed it while 10 per cent had no opinion.

“The installation of the missile shield in Poland is a political decision which seems to be a done deal at the highest level. We can’t really dispute it. The problem is it will be sited too close to residential areas,” said Chmiel.

“We had been promised two billion dollars worth of investment over 10 years, but we’ll have nothing. Just like Poland didn’t benefit from its involvement in Iraq. We just have soldiers coming back in coffins,” he said.'

Should the missile shield plan go ahead, 300 US soldiers are expected to arrive in the area along with their families — a total of around 1,200 people.

“At least the Americans could open a sports centre, with a good football pitch. Today there is nothing here for young people,” said Oskar Zientarski, 16, kicking a ball around a weedy field. “But we don’t want some kind of Saddam to bomb us,” he said.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=104284