Fed-up Scots resist Blair govt using their airports to move weapons

[theHandpuppet]

Glad to see the Scots are objecting to their country being used as London's bootscrapers once again.

http://www.tridentploughshares.org/article1433
http://www.scotland.indymedia.org /

Press Releases & Updates 2006
8th August 2006

Third Strike for Prestwick as Weapons Inspectors Again Gain Access to US Military Plane

Hot on the heels of three Trident Ploughshares Weapons Detectives getting into a US Air Force plane on Monday, another team, also searching for evidence of War Crimes, got into another US military plane at Prestwick in the early hours of this morning.

Both groups aimed to gain further evidence to support that reported by a group of Citizens Weapons Inspectors who went into Prestwick Airport on Saturday night - making it the third time in four days that Prestwick has been inspected by concerned citizens. A total of 17 people will now be in police custody as a result of these actions.

Tonight’s inspectors searched a USAF Air National Guard plane and examined documentation and manuals before moving on to attempt to examine a Polar Air aircraft that was also present. Polar Air are a known military contractor.... MORE

For more background on these protests, arrests and lots of pics, see http://www.tridentploughshares.org/index.php3

[AlamoDemoc]

1. I am humbled and admire their actions

knowing that humanity exists in everywhere is wonderful feeling. Thank you.

[gratuitous]

2. Gee, I thought they were all just medical transports

You know, bandages and sulfa powder, that kind of stuff. Weapons? Mercy! Whatever shall we tell the children about U.S. duplicity?

[theHandpuppet]

3. And you'll notice Blair using the Scots once again

If the Blair govt in London wants to offer up airports for the U.S. to transport their nasty cargoes of death I suggest they move them through Heathrow!

[ceile]

6. Exactly! But that'll never happen. n/t

[Broadslidin]

4. Headlines Should Read: "USAF Crews Arrested & Planes Impounded"

:yoiks:

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Scotland makes me proud! I'm sure they still hate Brits like Blair.

[Greeby]

9. Umm, Blair is Scottish

Born in Edinburgh, although he's done everything to bury any sign of being Scottish

[theHandpuppet]

7. And you'll notice this doesn't even make a blip on the BBC radar

This is so typical. This news doesn't even make the headlines on the BBC website. I guess the Blair govt in London figures they can do all their dirty work in Scotland so English hands can remain clean and they won't have to bother their beautiful minds with nasty thoughts of bombs, war crimes and massacres. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say. If it's happening in Scotland it might as well be happening in Timbuktu or so it seems.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

More details on the protests from the Scottish press: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1152342006

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Actually, all weapons have moved through English military airbases after

the first lot through Prestwick. Note that Trident Ploughshares has never found weapons on the planes it's got onto.

David Mackenzie, of the campaign group Trident Ploughshares, said its activists had boarded a US plane at the airport after gaining access to it by cutting through a perimeter fence.

They found the military area and a US plane with its door open. However, they did not find any weapons.
...
Aircraft suspected of carrying US weapons to Israel have been spotted at military airfields, including the US base at Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The Civil Aviation Authority, which is responsible for monitoring transit flights through civilian airports, said it had given permission for the two US flights to stop at Prestwick last month but no others.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1839382,00.html

And it did appear on the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5254904.stm

See also: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/346843.html