Yet another example of how Obama has 'improved' the US's international relations
Britain has rebuffed US pleas to use military bases in the UK to support the build-up of forces in the Gulf, citing secret legal advice which states that any pre-emptive strike on Iran could be in breach of international law.
The Guardian has been told that US diplomats have also lobbied for the use of British bases in Cyprus, and for permission to fly from US bases on Ascension Island in the Atlantic and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, both of which are British territories.
The US approaches are part of contingency planning over the nuclear standoff with Tehran, but British ministers have so far reacted coolly. They have pointed US officials to legal advice drafted by the attorney general's office which has been circulated to Downing Street, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence.
This makes clear that Iran, which has consistently denied it has plans to develop a nuclear weapon, does not currently represent "a clear and present threat". Providing assistance to forces that could be involved in a pre-emptive strike would be a clear breach of international law, it states.
"The UK would be in breach of international law if it facilitated what amounted to a pre-emptive strike on Iran," said a senior Whitehall source. "It is explicit. The government has been using this to push back against the Americans."Hopefully, Romney will win the election and will rebuild relations with Britain. One starting point might be putting that bust of Winston Churchill back in the White House once Neville Chamberlain's heir is gone.
...
"But I think the US has been surprised that ministers have been reluctant to provide assurances about this kind of upfront assistance," said one source. "They'd expect resistance from senior Liberal Democrats, but it's Tories as well. That has come as a bit of a surprise."
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Britain, Iranian nuclear threat, US foreign policy
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:29 AM
2 Comments:
Only an extreme partisan would think this has anything to do with Obama, and nothing to do with Great Britain feeling severely burned by G.W. Bush and Iraq.
In the Commentator this week there's a piece about the enormous costs Britain would incur if Scotland dissolves the UK and forces them to move their Trident nuclear submarine force out of nuclear free Scotland. The point of this is that Britain is quietly but earnestly looking for a way to de-nuclearize and become a nuclear weapons free state. The UK may very well object politically to helping the Jews and that's no shocker. But the deeper point is that the UK is well on its way to becoming yet another pacifist EU state. It's entirely likely that a dissolved UK eliminates most of their armed forces altogether leaving France as the only nuclear force in Europe and France and Germany with the only functional standing armies of the non-neutral states (Sweden and Switzerland). The selling point for Britain, to Parliament is cost savings but the political point is that Britons don't want Tridents, aren't up for defending anyone not even themselves anymore.
Post a Comment
<< Home