US base should have been built near Prague, says Cheney

Prague, Oct 9 (CTK) - Former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney criticised President Barack Obama for scrapping the plan to build a U.S. military base in the Czech Republic, daily Pravo writes Tuesday, citing Cheney's address delivered at the USA and European Union Days conference in Prague on Monday.

Cheney said it was a big failure of the Obama administration to revise the plans for the construction of missile defence bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, Pravo writes.

He said the Obama administration failed because it did not keep the promise to build the bases.

Cheney pointed out that the U.S.-Czech and U.S.-Polish treaties on missile defence were very good and significant, especially with respect to the latest developments in the Middle East.

Cheney, 71, was U.S. secretary of defense in 1989-1993 and vice president in 2001-2009. He is considered one of the most conservative Republicans and the architect of President George W. Bush's anti-terrorist policy after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The U.S. presidential election will be held on November 6 and the campaign is culminating now. Obama is defending his post against Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

Pravo writes that Cheney also commented on the global security threats and the results of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan at the Prague conference on Monday. NATO's troops left Iraq too early, the paper cites Cheney as saying.