CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush flatly declared on Thursday that the United States would withdraw ``on our timetable'' from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, a long-standing cornerstone of arms control. (Read photo caption below)
In one of his most explicit statements on the issue, Bush told reporters the accord hampered U.S. ability to keep the peace because it prohibited deployment of a missile defense shield. He said he had made that clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
``We will withdraw from the ABM treaty on our timetable at a time convenient to America,'' Bush said. ``I have no specific timetable in mind.'' He added that Washington would continue to ''consult closely'' with its allies in Europe and with Putin.
But administration officials have said crucial decisions must be made before Bush and Putin met in November at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. The treaty requires either side to give six months' notice of its intent to withdraw.
Undersecretary of State John Bolton, wrapping up arms talks in Moscow this week, said the United States wanted to work with Russia, ``either to find a way to mutually withdraw from the treaty, or in some way together move beyond the constraints that the ABM treaty places on our development effort.''
But he said a unilateral U.S. pullout from the ABM treaty ''is already in the market'' and predicted it would not unduly hurt relations with Moscow.
WASHINGTON CITES 'ROGUE STATES'
Bush told reporters at the Crawford Elementary School that Putin knew the U.S. position.
``I have made it clear that I think the treaty hampers our ability to keep the peace,'' he said. ``I do know that Mr. Putin is aware of our desires to move beyond the ABM treaty and we will.''
Bush and Putin agreed in July to link missile defense to mutual cuts in their respective nuclear arsenals, and ordered officials to fast-track talks on a new security relationship.
Washington says it needs a missile shield to defend itself from accidental missile launches or attack from what it calls ''rogue states,'' such as Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea. Bolton said some Russian officials believed such nations could pose a greater threat to Moscow than the United States.
Time is running out for Russia to extract concessions from Washington. The United States has warned its testing program would ``bump against'' the ABM treaty within months, not years.
The Pentagon has given the go-ahead to begin clearing ground in Alaska this month to prepare for construction of a missile defense test site.
Pam Bain, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said a private firm had been hired for 9 million to clear a 135-acre site at Fort Greely, an Army base 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks.
Clearing the ground for the test base represents a key step in the Bush administration's plan to develop and deploy a missile defense system over bitter opposition from Russia and China.
Bain said the facility, including a command and control center and ``hit-to-kill'' projectiles to be aimed at approaching test warheads, could not be completed until 2003 or 2004 at the earliest, depending on congressional approval of future military budgets.
Pentagon officials have said the initial clearing work would not violate the ABM treaty. Moscow has thus far rejected requests by the Bush administration to jointly abandon the ABM treaty, negotiated between the United States and former Soviet Union.
PHOTO CAPTION:
President Bush speaks to the students at Crawford Elementary school near his ranch in Crawford, Texas August 23, 2001. Bush flatly declared that the United States would withdraw 'on our timetable' from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, a long-standing cornerstone of arms control. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)
- Aug 23 2:47 PM ET