[A-List] US invasion begins: of UK!

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

National guard to protect American bases in UK

Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday February 25, 2003
The Guardian

Armed troops from the American national guard - some from as far away as
Puerto Rico - are being sent to protect US bases in Britain in the event of
a war against Iraq.

The soldiers will be deployed in at least three American bases, Lakenheath
and Mildenhall in Suffolk, and Molesworth in Cambridgeshire. Though they are
officially RAF stations, they are run and occupied by the US air force.

Troopers from the national guard, a branch of the US army, will be deployed
at the bases in late March after undergoing training at Fort Dix, New
Jersey.

More than 300 soldiers will be involved and the first batch will be from the
Puerto Rico national guard, according to the US forces newspaper, Air Force
Print News.

"We need this help right now," said Major JC Collins, a US air force
security official at the American base of Ramstein in Germany. "It'll free
up a tremendous amount of our manpower."

An American spokeswoman for RAF Lakenheath confirmed the move. She said
personnel at the airfield were "very stressed". The troops would be brought
in "to ease the strain".

The American soldiers will search vehicles in the base and check visitors
but will not, the Ministry of Defence insists, patrol country lanes or get
involved in enforcing the law.

The ministry said the US had not asked Britain for permission to bring in
its national guard. No permission was needed under the agreement covering US
bases, it said.

The decision follows an unprecedented agreement between Washington and
Berlin whereby German troops will for the first time guard American bases in
Germany.

But German troops, unlike Britain's overstretched forces, are not involved
in preparations for a war against Iraq.

An alternative would have been to ask the Ministry of Defence police for
help. However, they are also overstretched, protecting other US bases from
demonstrations. They include Menwith Hill and Fylingdales in North
Yorkshire - radar and satellite stations that will be used for the US
missile defence project - and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, likely to be
the base for US stealth bombers and other aircraft in an attack on Iraq. Ten
people were arrested on Sunday after breaking into Fairford.

Lakenheath is the base for US F-15 strike aircraft and an estimated 30
nuclear warheads. Mildenhall is the headquarters of the third US air force,
and a base for special operations. Molesworth is a military
intelligence-gathering and assessment centre.