Well while the cowardly Clinton dug tunnels and shelters for our public servanats in the event of an attack from China and/or Russia - George W. Bush has in mind a shield to protect the people of this great country. He took the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, which mandates the government to provide for the common defense..... Speak softly, and carry big stick - words of Teddy Roosevelt; however, look at that scared bunch in the EU - my goodness, a handful of people and they want to call in the storm troopers and prepare for another Waco attack? Take away our guns? You got to be kidding - come to Cincinnati, Ohio and see the war zone.......and remember Jesse Jackson threatning to loose the savages in the streets if he does not get his way. So Hail to our Chief.......who the hell wants a world leader - we need a President of the United States. Saba U.S. to proceed on missile plan Rice: Time to move past '72 ABM treatyJune 17 — National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice defends U.S. plan to pursue a missile defense. MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS WASHINGTON, June 17 — While the United States would like to move forward on its missile defense plan with Russia's blessing, the Bush administration will proceed without it, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Sunday. Rice said the United States would also likely abandon the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty — a landmark arms control agreement with Russia — to make it happen. "The United States has made it clear that it's time to move on to a new era," Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Do you support the United States moving forward on its missile defense plan without Russia's blessing? Yes No Vote to see results RICE SAID the ABM treaty — the cornerstone of national security between the two nations — belongs to a different era, an era of great hostility between the two nations. "It makes no sense that a treaty in 1972 reflect the state of U.S.-Russia relations," she said. While others have argued that the treaty has served both nations well in avoiding war for the past 29 years, Rice said she doubts that the treaty is what is keeping the countries from fighting. "I dare anybody to say that what keeps Russia and the United States from going to war is the ABM treaty," she said. "That simply doesn't make any sense." Rice said it was unclear when the United States would end the treaty, but Secretary of State Colin Powell said on another TV show Sunday that it would happen when the curbs on missile defense were blocking U.S. technology. "We cannot allow its constraints" to bind U.S. technology, he said on ABC's "This Week." Powell, too, said the United States was going to move forward for its plan to shield against a missile attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is opposed to the missile defense idea, said the ABM treaty banning such missile defense plans is the "cornerstone of the modern architecture of international security." He has warned the United States that if it proceeded on its own, that would only complicate U.S.-Russian relations. Advertisement Throughout his six-day trip to Europe last week, President Bush said he wanted to make the case to Putin that such a shield is not designed to give Washington a strategic superiority over Moscow, but rather to protect against "blackmail" from rogue states. BOTTOM LINE FOR U.S. Rice said the bottom line is that the United States needs to do what is in its best interest. Bush visits Europe •Latest news •EU firms up expansion •WashPost: Russia, U.S. at odds on Iran deal •Newsweek: Lessons •Newsweek: Europe •Russia's media wars "Ultimately, we have to do what is in the interest of peace and security and what's in the interest of the protection of American forces and allies," she said. "But we have every reason to believe we are bringing people along with us." She said the United States is prepared to move forward with its plan in a "cooperative way." Rice said that no one knows how much such a system would cost but that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had planned for the estimated costs this year of developing and testing the system in this year's budget — $2 billion to $3 billion. When asked if the eventual costs could hit $100 billion, she said there was no way of knowing. NATO, IRAN On another topic, Powell noted that Russia was not among the nine countries now officially aspiring to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO last expanded in 1999 to include the first members of the former Warsaw Pact — the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Russia has opposed expanding NATO to include several former Soviet satellites, including the Baltic states, which it says would bring the Western security alliance to Russia's borders. Echoing the message pushed by Bush, Powell said expansion would pose no threat to Moscow, asserting the three new alliance members now enjoy better relations with Russia. "All of them have better relations with Russia now than they did before they became members of NATO," Powell said. Powell also said that the United States and Russia would hold talks on "tracking down" Russian companies and scientists who are assisting Iran develop weapons. "Russia should see it is more in their interest than ours" to stop weapons proliferation, Powell said. One way to accomplish that, he said, is to step up programs designed to give Russian scientists an incentive to remain at home. "We can do more," Powell said, without providing any details. "We have to keep talking to them about this to make sure we are of a unified mind," he said. TWO LEADERS MEET Bush and Putin met for two hours Saturday in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, to discuss weapons proliferation, NATO expansion and hot spots like the Middle East and the Balkans. In a joint news conference after their first encounter, each man had broad praise for the other and expressed satisfaction with the meeting's outcome. "Our countries have common interests, and we share great responsibilities," Bush said. "I am convinced that he and I can build a relationship of mutual respect and candor. ... It is time to move beyond suspicion and toward straight talk, beyond mutually assured destruction." Bush called Putin a family man and a patriot. "I was able to get a sense of his soul," he told reporters as he closed his first overseas trip and returned to Washington on Saturday night. Putin was equally upbeat about the first encounter. "I think that we found a good basis to start building on our cooperation," he said. "We're counting on a pragmatic relationship between Russia and the United States." Bush announced plans for Putin to visit the United States in the fall and said he would also be visiting Russia soon. He said Putin had invited him to his own home, and he invited the Russian leader for a visit to his ranch in Crawford, Texas. "I wouldn't have invited him to my ranch if I didn't trust him," Bush said. "Can I trust him?" he added later. "I can." On Friday, administration officials announced that Bush will visit Europe for a second time next month, traveling to Genoa, Italy, to attend the G-7/8 summit July 20-22. He is expected to meet again with Putin there. MSNBC.com's Bobbi Nodell, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 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