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July 27, 2006
Taken for granted
First there were the rendition flights which used British airbases and airports as staging posts. With the apparent ignorance or complicity of the British Government. Yet after all the hue and cry raised on the matter, nothing has changed.
The Guardian - Beckett unhappy at Prestwick claims
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is planning to make a formal protest to the United States over reports that a Scottish airport was used as a staging post for the supply of missiles from America to Israel.
Note the use of the past tense there. Any such formal protest - if one is ever made - is very much a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. So not only is Blair remaining shoulder-to-shoulder with Bush on the matter of any immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, but now our complicity is increased.
Beckett's subsequent comments are even more unedifying.
Asked if it was OK for a UK airport to be used for such a supply of weapons, Mrs Beckett told Channel 4 News: "No I am not happy about it.Not least because it appears that in so far as there are procedures for handling of that kind of cargo - hazardous cargoes irrespective of what they are - it does appear that they were not followed.
See. The issue as Beckett sees it is more one of correct procedures not being followed regarding the handling of hazardous cargo, than of Britain being involved in the supply of weapons to Israel. Put more succinctly, it would appear that Beckett finds the risk to British Airport Workers to be of more concern than the continuing slaughter of innocent Lebanese.
The order was for 100 GBU-28 5000lb bunker busting bombs, worth (using 1997 prices) somewhere in the region of $11million. Given that the order was rushed through by the US Government, you can bet your bottom dollar that they were going to take care to ensure that delivery arrived safely. Which makes Beckett's concerns even more distasteful.
Posted by Clive on July 27, 2006 12:22 AM in the category War