from Sunday Herald, 28 March 2010
The unfettered use of the British island of Diego Garcia by the American military is “disturbing” and ministers should be “less deferential” towards the US, says a cross- party group of MPs.
In a report published today, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee criticises the British government for ceding control of the island in the Indian Ocean to the US, and demands a comprehensive review of the arrangement.
The report comes as the US is planning to make another major military deployment at Diego Garcia. This summer, the USS Emory S. Land, which left a base in Italy in 2007 under a cloud, will arrive the island to start servicing the US submarine fleet.
Two weeks ago, the Sunday Herald revealed that 387 bunker buster bombs were being shipped to Diego Garcia by the US. Experts suggested that this might be in preparation for a strike against Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities.
Although the island is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, it is used by the US as a military base under an agreement made in 1971. The agreement led to 2,000 native islanders being forcibly evicted to the Seychelles and Mauritius.
US air strikes against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, and against Afghanistan since 2001 have come from Diego Garcia. The island has also been used for the extraordinary rendition of suspected terrorists.
The use of the island has been investigated by the Foreign Affairs Committee as part of a report on relations between the US and the UK. “Diego Garcia is very important to the US, and is used extensively by the military because of its location,” said the committee’s chairman, Labour MP Mike Gapes.
“We have expressed concerns, and said that there are disturbing questions about the use of the base. We greatly regret that UK government and parliament has very limited scrutiny of the arrangement and that’s why we are calling for a comprehensive review.”
Gapes argued that UK ministers needed to adopt a “more hard-headed political approach” toward the US. “There is a need to be less deferential and more willing to say no where our interests diverge,” he said.
The US Navy has announced that Diego Garcia is to become the new home port of the USS Emory S. Land, a submarine tender vessel. It will provide services including repair, maintenance and weapons supply for US nuclear-powered submarines.
Peter Sand, an international environmental lawyer who has written a book on Diego Garcia, points out that in 2007 the ship left La Maddalena naval base in Italy after protests over its alleged role in contaminating the sea with radioactivity. The ship helps maintain submarine reactors, he says, and can also transfer nuclear weapons.
The imminent arrival of the Emory S. Land in Diego Garcia has prompted a protest from a prominent South African politician. It will violate the newly agreed Treaty of Pelindaba making Africa a nuclear weapon-free zone, says Dr Frene Ginwala, who was speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from 1994 to 2004.
The treaty defines Diego Garcia as part of Africa, but this has been rejected by the British government. Instead, says Ginwala, it detached the island from Mauritius and “designated it as part of a new colony, the British Indian Ocean Territory, which it unilaterally established in 1965.”
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) insisted that Diego Garcia was “UK sovereign territory”. Its use by the US was governed by a published exchange of notes between governments, said an FCO spokeswoman.
“This gives a clear legal framework as to how the territory is used. It sets out what is allowed, what isn't allowed and what needs to be discussed between UK and US governments,” she added.
“The US naval support facility on Diego Garcia provides support for maritime prepositioning squadron, US air force expeditional squadrons, transient US and UK ships, and acts as a logistical hub in the theatre. The recent munitions shipment represents a normal rotation of stocks as items are consumed in training or cycled for maintenance.”
Go AmeriKKKa go, expand, expand, expand. One day soon you will desintegrate. Same was happening to all other empires all lasting around 340 years. Including you UK still unable to realize it is sinking even deeper still
Posted by: Warren Peters | 30 March 2010 at 12:34 AM
I would like for the United States to withdraw it's forces from around the world, and let the other nations solve their own damn problems. We are not the caretaker for these malcontents, so let them defend themselves. Europeans and third world nations neglect the simple fact that the United States is fighting wars for the United Nations, as we have not declared war since World War Two. I think the Nanny State existence in Europe had destroyed the ability of it's people to think clearly. The United States has saved you from every stupid move you have made, except one: your creation of a Communist Socialist nightmare, which is now threatening the very source of your protection. Don't blame the United States for the failure of your criminal leaders and royalty. You bred these losers, now get rid of them on your own. Oh wait! In ignorance or cowardice, you gave away your ability to defend yourselves. Would you like to borrow our Constitution and Bill of Rights? Our Communists don't wish to use it.
Posted by: Gerald Sills | 29 March 2010 at 07:32 PM
If the FCO is naiive enough to believe anything the Americans say that is their problem. Get them out of Diego Garcia, repatriate the indigents who were cynically displaced, with compensation. Get the Americans out of Yemen and Ethiopia and Somalia before they blockade the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia. Return all Americans to the USA then build a wall round it to keep them there. We have repaired the world once after the Americans were let loose. I do not want to do it again. Complete the exercise by
getting rid of the Israel Lobby in UK. They are a bigger menace than the Americans.When that is done remind the Americans they are still a British colony.
Posted by: Chris Anderson | 29 March 2010 at 05:23 PM
Stop callinG TORTURE 'extraordinary rendition'.
TORTURE is TORTURE is TORTURE no matter the obfuscation of words to detract from truth.
Journalists -.wake up this this Orwellian New Speak.
Posted by: Orwell | 29 March 2010 at 02:45 PM