General: Europe missile shield to continue

BRUSSELS, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Plans for a U.S. missile defense shield in Eastern Europe should continue no matter who wins next week's presidential election, a Pentagon official says.

Despite comments from Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in July that he'd "shift federal resources away from an unproven missile defense system to proven technology," U.S. Missile Defense Agency chief Gen. Henry Obering predicted in Brussels the program will remain, the EU Observer reported Wednesday.

"If you don't have national security it won't matter what your economy is doing because you won't be able to protect your citizens and their jobs," Obering told the publication, adding that it was a "matter of better education and better information" in gaining support for the system from whoever replaces U.S. President George Bush in the White House.

Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to host parts of an anti-missile missile system that Bush says will protect the United States and Europe from "rogue" states such as Iran, while Russia claims the system is meant to encircle it with NATO forces.

Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona favors continuing the program, the Observer said.