To the editor:

President Bush’s newest economic policy proposal is to build a ballistic missile shield in East European countries surrounding Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, furious about it, threatened to retarget Europe with nuclear weapons and restart an arms race against the United States. But President Bush assured Putin that this anti-missile system is not aimed at Russia but is to protect these countries from such “rogue nations” as Iran and Syria. How ridiculous can we get?

First of all, Iran and Syria have no long-range missiles that could reach East Europe, and it would take them a good eight to 10 years to build such a system. And secondly, if they ever did have them, would Prague or Warsaw really have to fear that these “rogue nations” would launch an attack against the Czech Republic or against Poland?

How would we feel if Russia started building an anti-ballistic missile system in Cuba or Venezuela, “of course not against the United States but to protect them from such rogue nations as Iran or Syria”?

Give me a break!

Harry G. Shaffer,

Lawrence