Wednesday 25 July 2007
This was the day that Des Brown
(Secretary of State for Defence) 'buried bad news' as is their practice.
The media was full of the desperate floods round the country
and also the announcemnt was made two days before Parliament went into
recess. He told the House of Commons that the US government
had been given formal consent to use Menwith Hill in the American
Missile Defense system. There has been no public or Parliamentary
debate concerning this request.
CAAB was the first to find out about
the crucial connection with Missile Defense in March 1997 while
monitoring the Planning office in Harrogate (we do this regularly and
also at Helmsley for Fylingdales). We brought out an Injunction in
the High Court to stop the building of the two Space Based Infra Red
system radomes in 1998 which went on for a year. In the end we had
to conceed the case because Bill Clinton passed on the
decision whether to deploy Missile Defense to George W Bush. There
was therefore no decision to scrutinise or adjudicate on.
Over the last two years we have
regularly sent Norman Baker MP a list of suggested Parliamentary
Questions (which he has asked) to get the government to say and
before any decision was made, there would be public and
Parliamentary involvement in any decision that is made when the US
requested to use Menwith Hill. We had always known that sooner or
later they would make this request. It has been done secretly,
duplicitously and behind closed doors.
Lindis Percy was the lone protestor
with an upside down US flag with the words 'OUTRAGEOUS - WHY WEREN'T WE
ASKED'? written on it. She was at the main entrance for five
hours. Some of the Ministry of Defence Police Agency officers did
their job and upheld and enabled the peaceful protest. Others were
unnecessarily rigid given the gravity of the decision. Lindis was
reported to the High Court for allegedly breaching her permanent
Injunction (since 1995) when she crossed the illegal 'yellow line'.
One way to show opposition about
this announcement is to join the regular Tuesday evening
demonstration (6-8 pm) at the main entrance to Menwith Hill. In
the face of things going on it is a small thing we can do. The
demonstration has been happening for over six years now and is
specifically focussed on the people who work on and come in and out of
the base.
ALSO - there will be the annual demonstration
at Menwith Hill specifically focussed on Missile Defense on Saturday 13
October 2007 - more details nearer the time on the CAAB website.
Laila Packer and Lindis Percy
Coordinators
CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF
AMERICAN BASES - CAAB
