Obama Bellweather Item Alert - no committment to Poland over Missile Shield

Barack Obama has made no commitment that a missile defense shield in eastern Europe will go ahead, an advisor to the president-elect said Saturday, in apparent contradiction of statements by Poland.

Earlier, a statement from Polish President Lech Kaczynski after the two men spoke by telephone said Obama had said he would go ahead with plans to build a missile defense shield in eastern Europe despite threats from Russia.

But Obama had given no such clear cut undertaking on the controversial program, his senior foreign policy advisor Denis McDonough said in a statement.

(The) "president-elect had a good conversation with the Polish President and the Polish Prime Minister about the important US-Poland alliance," McDonough said in a statement.

"President Kaczynski raised missile defense but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it.

"His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable."

The statement by President Kaczynski appeared to put a different spin on the conversation between the two men.

"Barack Obama has underlined the importance of the strategic partnership between Poland and the United States, he expressed his hope of continuing the political and military cooperation between our two countries," the statement read.

"He also said the anti-missile shield project would go ahead," said a statement said.