Poland Threatens to Hold Out Over Us Missile Defence Shield

President George Bush's hopes of sealing agreement to site parts of the Pentagon's missile shield in central Europe before he leaves office are fading fast, according to senior Polish officials who are reluctant to reach a deal with the United States before the end of the year.

The US has been negotiating with the Polish and Czech governments for the past five years over deploying missile interceptors in Poland and a radar-tracking station in the Czech Republic - the first elements of the American missile defence program that would be stationed outside the US.

But while the Americans and the Czechs recently concluded their negotiations, the Polish government has balked at the US terms on offer, insisting on large-scale military aid from the US to modernize its armed forces in return for agreeing to host the silos for 10 interceptor rockets.

"Bush promised us a package, but the US is not delivering," said a senior Polish official. "Bush is a lame duck and the Pentagon is now sabotaging him. Why should we do any favors for Bush?"

He indicated that Warsaw had decided to wait until a new US administration is installed in January in the hope that a change of leadership would produce a better deal for the Poles.

The missile shield installations in central Europe are ostensibly aimed at intercepting potential ballistic missile attacks from Iran, although Russia contests this argument and insists that the Polish and Czech deployments are ultimately aimed at the Kremlin's nuclear arsenal.

The new Russian president, Dmitriy Medvedev, used his first foreign visit to China last week to drum up Beijing's support for Russian opposition to the missile shield, one of the key disputes that has led to worsening relations between Russia and the west in recent years.

Poland is keen to host the interceptor rockets since it believes that having American troops and military sites on its territory reinforces its security against its traditional enemy, Russia. But unless it markedly improves its defenses, the Polish government also believes hosting the shield will diminish, rather than enhance, national security in the face of a strengthening Russia.

On Monday in Brussels, the Polish defence minister, Bogdan Klich, said Warsaw needed the kind of military aid from the US that Washington supplies to Pakistan or Egypt, indicating that the cost to America could run to billions.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, could yet turn its back on Poland and shift to deploying the interceptor rockets either at sea or in Britain, say senior Nato officials in Brussels.