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At a news conference after meeting Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Gates said this was a proposal to the Russians
-- who strongly oppose U.S. missile defense -- that has yet to be worked out in detail.
"We would consider tying together activation of the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic with definitive proof of the threat
-- in other words, Iranian missile testing and so on," Gates said with Topolanek at his side.
The United States wants to build a missile interceptor base in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic, but details have yet to be negotiated.
"We have not fully developed this proposal, but the idea was we would go forward with the negotiations, we would complete the negotiations, we would develop the sites, build the sites, but perhaps delay activating them until there was concrete proof of the threat from Iran," the defense chief said.
U.S. officials have said that the proposal tying activation of the European sites to proof of an Iranian threat was presented to the Russians by Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this month. But Gates' remarks in Prague were the most specific and clear that such a proposition raises the prospect of delay.
[Associated Press; by Robert Burns]
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