Miller told state Trojka radio that a "decision (to set up US bases) should be made".

"If it was only up to me, I would have said yes," he added in an interview from his hospital bed where he is being treated for injuries sustained in a helicopter crash.

US Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, who arrives in Poland Monday to discuss the issue, will make "concrete proposals," Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski told private radio station Radio Zet.

"Consultations will start today," he added.

Szmajdzinski said there was no risk that Poland, a NATO member since 1999, could become a target for extremists if US military bases were opened in the country.

"It will not change our situation. Poland already is a member of the anti-terrorist coalition," he said. "Ironically, the bases could mean that our country will be safer, a reaction to an attack could be faster."

Szmajdzinski has said before that the government and President Aleksander Kwasniewski would discuss the base issue with Poland's political parties and listen to public opinion.

Consultations would also be held with Poland's allies and neighbors.

US President George W. Bush announced last month that the United States was stepping up discussions with key European and Asian allies about the overhaul of US global military deployments.

A senior US administration official said the president was not accelerating the process of revamping deployments, just moving ahead with planned consultations with key allies on where best to position US forces.

Bush came to office in January 2001 with plans to overhaul US forces to make them more mobile as well as revamp where they are stationed abroad.

Poland was one of Washington's strongest backers in the war that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and has sent around 2,500 troops and leads one the three military zones in the country.

Szmajdzinski said NATO should think about taking over the parts of the country currently under the control of Poland and Britain.

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