Blair 'Secretly Ok'd Star Wars Missiles in Britain'

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Tony Blair has secretly agreed to allow America to station interceptor missiles on British soil as part of its controversial “Son of Star Wars” missile defence programme, it was reported tonight.
The Independent on Sunday reported that Downing Street had agreed “in principle” to a request from the Pentagon to site the missiles at Fylingdales in North Yorkshire.

Although the Government has announced that it will allow the US to use early warning radar at the base for the missile defence programme, it has said nothing publicly about stationing the actual missiles there.

The move, if confirmed, is likely to anger and alarm Labour MPs, many of whom opposed the original decision to let the US use the radar at the base.Since then, attitudes in the party towards the administration of President George Bush have hardened as a result of the deepening controversy over the Iraq war.

According to The Independent on Sunday, the agreement was struck at a meeting last May in Washington attended by senior officials from the British embassy and the US State Department.The British diplomats were said to have agreed in principle to the stationing of the missiles as Fylingdales, but asked the Americans that no formal request should be made until after the general election.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3636285

[mikehiggins]

1. I love that "after the general election" stuff

Bushoid democracy at work for YOU!

If this doesn't get Blair out of office I can't imagine what will.

[cal04]

2. sounds just like bush, these two seem more alike everyday

The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell expressed alarm at the plan.“These reports, if true, are a source of grave concern given that a decision appears to have been taken behind closed doors before a full public debate on the costs and strategic implications,” he told The Independent on Sunday.

“This could have major implications for the defence posture of the UK, our relations with Nato countries and other allies, and the strategic balance of nuclear weapons around the world.”

The missile defence programme – intended to enable the US to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles – has long been highly controversial.

Critics have warned that it is both impractical and unfeasibly expensive, however the Bush administration is strongly committed to the project.

[acmavm]

3. You know, when you thought that you'd heard everything about every

possible way that bush* could have pandered to the bush* administration, and just when you figured that he was one lucky S.O.B. to have weathered all the storms, another story leaks out about these sneaky bastards.

And here we thought that the U.S. and Britain were open democratic societies. We should be suing all those companies that print history and social studies books for contributing to the ignorace of the American/British people.

[JohnyCanuck]

4. Brit Labour MPs are a bunch of wusses, screw 'em.

The Prime Minister has become the main international prop for George Bush

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Tony Blair’s intense involvement with George Bush, perhaps the most right-wing US president in a century, has not merely distressed Democrats. It has caused extreme mortification among Labour MPs. Labour prides itself on being the ‘international’ party with pressing things to say about the environment, justice, fairness and much more besides. All these issues are being fought out as rarely before in the US presidential elections. And yet, with less than three weeks to voting day, Labour MPs remain almost mute, though badges marked ‘Labour for Kerry’ were furtively changing hands at the Labour conference in Brighton two weeks ago.

For Labour MPs, the knowledge that their Prime Minister is the most potent international supporter of George Bush as he seeks re-election is not just painful. It gets worse. They know they will have their full share of responsibility if and when Bush gets re-elected. For if the Labour party moved to dislodge Tony Blair, as briefly seemed a possibility over the summer, it would send a powerful message to the United States. President Bush would lose his apologist, and the American people would learn that Bush’s policies are so unpopular that they cost Tony Blair his job.

But Labour MPs lost their nerve. They hate themselves for it. They hate Tony Blair too. The role of the Labour party in President Bush’s re-election campaign will go down as one of the famous betrayals in the party’s history, up there with Ramsay MacDonald and the National government of the 1930s. Labour know, deep down in their hearts, that by getting rid of Blair they could have got rid of Bush. The failure to act will haunt them for ever.

www.antiwar.com/spectator/spec411.html

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5. from the Independent

If re-elected, President Bush has pledged to spend around $10bn (£5.5bn) a year on realising Ronald Reagan's dream of erecting a missile shield to protect the West from long-range attack. Sixteen interceptor missiles are being positioned in bases in Alaska and California this year. The intended location of the remaining 24 is a closely guarded secret, although it is known that the Pentagon wants to site some in Europe. Mr Blair and Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, refuse to be drawn on how far Britain is prepared to co-operate in the programme, insisting that the US has made no formal request to site missiles here.

This newspaper has learnt, however, that an offer to site missiles in Yorkshire was made in a meeting in Washington in May this year and that preparations are well under way to overcome public and parliamentary opposition.

The meeting, one of a series held to discuss US-UK collaboration on the programme, was attended by senior officials from the British embassy, a deputy to John Bolton, the Pentagon's secretary for arms control, and staff from the US State Department.British diplomats gave an agreement "in principle" to siting interceptors at RAF Fylingdales, but asked that no formal request be made until after the next general election.

Malcolm Savidge, MP for Aberdeen North and a leading opponent of missile defence, said it would lead to a revolt among Labour backbenchers. "This is part of an increasing surrender of British interests to satisfy the obsessions of the Bush administration."

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