I must say that I surprised that anybody could mistake the irony obvious in this "news" item. There is none in the foloowing news item, which also relates very directly to the defense of the President:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001301335,00.html

Missiles aimed at the United States and shot down by its proposed defensive shield could explode instead over Europe or Canada, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Scientists have calculated that a missile shot down en route from Iraq to Washington could hit Britain.

What are friends for?