US bullish on 'Star Wars'

Ms Rice said she was heartened by the responses so far

Senior members of the Bush administration have gone on the offensive over controversial plans to build a missile defence shield.

The US project has been strongly criticised by Russia, China and some western allies, who say it would endanger strategic stability.

I think we are going to win this argument - the intellectual argument

Condoleezza Rice

In the next few days, Bush administration officials are expected to be sent to Europe and Asia to try to persuade Washington's allies to accept the plans.

US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used the Sunday political talk shows to press the case for the new missile defence system.

'Different vision'

President George W Bush has committed America to the development and deployment of the system, as a defence against "rogue" states.

Ms Rice said the president had begun to lay out a "different vision of how to think about deterrence".

Mr Rumsfeld says many countries have been supportive

Ms Rice said the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signed with the Soviet Union no longer represented the relationship between the two countries.

The United States has expressed confidence that its allies will eventually support the proposal.

Ms Rice said she was heartened by the responses so far, including from Russia.

'Russians are listening'

"I think the Russians are listening," she said. "We are only asking people to listen, to begin the discussion. I think we are going to win this argument - the intellectual argument."

And she added: "We will be talking with our friends from Nato first, and then fanning out to talk to other interested parties."

The UK's Menwith Hill complex is an element in the defence project

Mr Rumsfeld said many US allies had been supportive of the idea, adding that even Russia had been "muted" in its comments.

"The assumption that Russia will not agree, I think, is not a good one," he said.

Mr Rumsfeld said the proliferation of missiles had changed the way the US needed to look at its defence.

"Since the end of the Cold War, people have relaxed. And we see all this trading among every nation, and even among the rogue states. Those weapons are powerful, they can do an enormous amount of damage," he said.

Criticism

But Senate Democratic leader Thomas Daschle of South Dakota criticised President Bush for the costly programme.

"We are concerned about the speed with which he's moving ahead, regardless of what the Russians think, regardless of what our allies think, regardless of whether or not it works," he said.

The Bush administration is hoping to persuade sceptical US allies and key nuclear countries, such as Russia and China, to deploy defences to protect against potential missile attacks by Iraq, Iran or North Korea.