Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has begun campaigning among Polish citizens to build support for U.S. plans to construct a European Missile Defense (EMD) system, promising local residents that the government will build new roads for them as part of the EMD program.

The EMD would include ground silos housing interceptors, a variant of the Ground-based Missile Defense (GMD) system now installed in Alaska and California.

The Boeing Co. [BA] leads the GMD/EMD programs that also include many other major defense contractors.

Congress has placed curbs on using U.S. funds for EMD construction until the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic (a radar site) provide their approval, which they have, and until the Polish and Czech parliaments also approve the EMD plan.

Riki Ellison, president and founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, praised Tusk and other Polish leaders for defiantly pressing forward with their EMD plans, despite Russian threats.

Moscow leaders have vowed to use military force to demolish any EMD installation if it is built.

This might be taken seriously, given that Russian forces invaded another former Soviet bloc state, Georgia, and have yet to withdraw back inside Russian borders, despite strong demands from France, other European nations and the United States.

In the face of the Russian invasion of Georgia, however, Poland moved ahead with administration approval for the EMD system.

Now, Tusk and others are building public support helpful to parliamentary approval.

"Last week, the leader of the Republic of Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, further embedded his decision to host the United States missile defense system by personally visiting the region and the people where the 10 U.S. defensive missiles will be deployed in Northern Poland," Ellison observed.

"The Prime Minister’s presentation to the local community as well as his appearance and that of the Defense Minister Bogdan Klich and Gen. Mieczyslaw Stachowiak from the Polish Army to the people of Slupsk community and surrounding areas sent a clear, resounding message to the public of Poland that the agreement with the United States is in the best interests of Poland, its future and for the local community."

Tusk argued that the EMD system should be built because it will benefit Poland by making it more secure, according to Ellison.

"I am the last person to seek conflict with our neighbors, but as prime minister I must not leave Poland defenseless," Tusk said in answering questions in Slupsk.

Ellison related that public safety was the most overriding concern for the local community, including questions about safety of the EMD interceptors as well as the consequences of the deployment of a U.S. system to the community.

Tusk promised to build a speedway/freeway from Gdansk to Slupsk (about 80 miles), and a national road between Slupsk and Ustka as well as a road around the city center. Further, Tusk promised a land exchange of 550 hectares from the Polish Army for the 400 hectares from the municipality that would be used for the missile defense site, with a possibility of a special economic zone located in the exchanged land.

"This public display and endorsement from Poland’s highest ranking officials for their decision to have a strategic partnership with the United States — and by doing so, strengthening the security of NATO — is courageous, strong and powerful in light of the open threats and public rhetoric by the Russian Federation," Ellison said.

But regardless of Russian bombast, the EMD system must be built to counter a major threat in the Middle East, Ellison observed.

"Iran’s continued development, testing and deployment of ballistic missiles coupled with their nuclear ambition and intent are the sole reasons why Poland’s decision to defend NATO and the United States are valid and valued by western democracies and their populations," Ellison concluded.

Iran has fired multiple missiles in salvo launches; obtained missiles with longer ranges; fired a missile from a submerged submarine; and announced plans for a space program, which would involve essentially the same technology as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In another development that worries Western nations, Iran continues developing nuclear materials, which it says would be used to generate electricity but which Western observers fear would be used to build nuclear weapons that could be mounted on missiles.

Further, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Israel should be wiped from the map, and that it soon will cease to exist.