Blair to Site US Missiles in UK (!!)

[doxieone]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=604458§ion=news

Blair to Site US Missiles in UK

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair has secretly agreed to allow Washington to station U.S. missiles on British soil as part of President George W. Bush's missile defence programme, the Independent on Sunday says.

The paper said Blair's office had given an "agreement in principle" to the U.S. Defence Department that the weapons -- so-called interceptor missiles -- could be sited at a Royal Air Force base in Fylingdales.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence denied the reports, saying no approach had been made by the U.S. government over the deployment of interceptors in Britain, and there was no deal.


(snip)

[AlCzervik]

1. Does Tony Blair have the same disregard for public opinion

the way that Bush does? When will they make him step down?

[doxieone]

2. Team Bush's attitude towards us is summarized in

today's NYT Magazine.

Unnamed Bush aide:

"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

[Aidoneus]

3. Airstrip #1, renamed Missile Silo #1

What is Blair, the US Ambassador to Britain now?

[fedsron2us]

4. Sad how Blair apes Thatcher in so many ways

In the Reagan era it was nuclear armed cruise missiles at Greenham.

Fylingdales is a long-range radar station, which forms part of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) and Space Surveillance Network (SSN). It was the third and last of the BMEWS stations to be built. The first two are at Thule, Greenland and Clear, Alaska.

I suspect these missiles are designed to protect this facility rather than to destroy incoming ICBMs aimed at the US homeland. Since it has always been likely to be one of the first targets in any tactical nuclear exchange I do not think that the presence of the interceptors will make much difference to the likelihood of the UK being attacked. You would actually have to remove Fylingdales itself to make the country safer. Just another example of how the British government like to brown nose to their chums across the pond. Still, at least when it comes to Armegeddon we Brits get to arrive at the party first.

[AlCzervik]

6. I saw news clip of him the other day

saying how much he admired thatcher. So when will his career go the way hers did?

[Laughing Mirror]

7. We are not only across the pond, we are firmy implanted on your soil

This being Sunday, the Quakers are here with a report.

American military and intelligence installations in Britain

The United States Government is committed to
applying military power on a global scale and
by 2007 is expected to account for half of the
world’s military expenditure.4 It maintains a
worldwide network of around 730 military
bases worldwide and agreements with over 90
countries for stationing its forces abroad.5
Most recently, a number of new long-term
bases have been established in Central Asia
and the Middle East following military action in
Afghanistan and Iraq.

As part of this global network, US forces are
accommodated on 35 sites in Britain.
Collectively, these occupy about 10 square
miles. Of these sites, six are one square mile
or larger and four host more than 1000 US
personnel each. All US bases in Britain are
advertised as Royal Air Force facilities. In
addition, two large US bases on British island
territories provide the US with a presence in
strategically significant locations – the South
Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.6

Approximately 16,500 US forces personnel are
attached to US bases on British territory,
compared with about 1,000 personnel of other
nations' forces.7 The largest US facility in
Britain is Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk at 2.8
square miles with a personnel complement of
over 5,000.8 This makes it larger in terms of
size and personnel than the largest British RAF
base, Brize Norton.9

Bases on British territory are significant to the
US in at least four ways. First, the bases have
played important military and intelligencegathering
roles in all recent major US military
engagements, including the wars over
Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. Second, they
are integral to the US long-term strategic
posture represented by nuclear weapons,
strategic missile defences and long-range
bomber and naval forces. Third, they form
part of essential infrastructure for US military
communications, command and control and
munitions storage. Fourth, the US military
presence in Britain links the Government of a
leading European nation more closely to the
strategic interests of the US.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

5. link to Independent article

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=572950

[Moderator]

8. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=910218