Britain rejects US request to use UK bases in nuclear standoff with Iran

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Guardian

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.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/25/uk-reject-us-request-bases-iran

[kooljerk666]

1. Good for the Brits...........

Leave Iran alone.

[Panasonic]

2. Good. All countries should refuse to let US use their base for staging

and tell them to fuck off and go home. Iran is not a threat. Never was a threat - just more RW noise.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Funny, since Britain got us into this shit in 1952 in the first place.

Still, if it inhibits the war drums, I'm all for it.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

8. Always nice to see someone who knows history...

It would have been nice if they had waited until after the election to reveal this, however. Good chance Romney will jump on it as proof of Obama's failed diplomacy...

[Vidar]

4. Bravo, Britain.

[bemildred]

5. Friends don't let friends commit war crimes. nt

[RC]

6. Too bad Tony and George didn't adhere to that.

Baghdad might still be safe and civilized.

[lexx21]

10. Not sure how "civilized" it was in the first place.

Orderly, yes. Civilized.... debatable.

[PavePusher]

22. Safe is debateable as well.

It didn't pay to be politically opposed to Saddam. But it was certainly something best left for them to work out on their own with, at most, only non-invasive aid.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

7. +1

[Judi Lynn]

9. Hope the other countries will see the wisdom and rightness in this position. n/t

[melody]

13. We're not friends anymore

That ended five years ago.

[bemildred]

14. No more "special relationship"?

Probably a good thing for us both, if true.
Still, we have a lot in common, a lot of common history.
I think it would be wrong to just forget all that.

[melody]

15. I know, I'm English/Scots/Irish, but ...

The EU was the beginning of the end of that. The EU is as right-wing and power-mad as the US. It has cast us as the Bad Guys and will use that to their advantage. Part of that is breaking the ties between the Anglo-origin countries.

[bemildred]

16. My dad was born in Glasgow.

The last 100 years has not been kind to empires, and I see no reason for that to change. Stay the course.

[PavePusher]

23. History has never been "kind" to any Empire.

Faster travel and communications have only sped the proccess of rise and fall.

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. You clearly have a somewhat mistaken view of Britain's relationship with the EU

it's not popular and if a referendum on membership were held tomorrow Britain would be out. The EU doesn't dictate the foreign policy of member states--and if Brussels tried to tell the British government to do something, like, say, "deny the US use of bases", Her Majesty's Government would do the opposite out of sheer bloodymindedness. The considerations here are more likely to be economic--the effects of loss of a significant percentage of world oil production for the duration of any hypothetical hostilities with Iran would probably be more severe for the UK than the US.

[melody]

19. The public view is not the government view

The public may dislike the EU, but the government sees it as a necessary evil. They're prepared to dump the US for the EU because it serves its interests. It's just policy, nothing personal. Americans will not be prepared for or happy about it, however.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. Not really

it's more about the UK government being more circumspect after the whole Iraq debacle; according to various reports the reason for the denial of the request was advice from the Attorney General that a pre-emptive strike on Iran would be illegal under international law (as was, probably, the Iraq war). It has nothing at all to do with the EU.

[melody]

24. I'm not saying this action has anything to do with the EU

I'm saying the general trend is away from being a staunch US ally. If the US goes farther to the right, it may be hastened, but the French in particular seem to have a low opinion of Obama's ability to change things. That should sway the UK in their EU alliance.

[bemildred]

25. American Presidents are weak by design.

Only when they use the "bully pulpit" and obtain the full support of the electorate are they able to do battle successfully with Congress and the plutocracy and institute sweeping changes. I am amazed at how many americans do not understand this simple fact. The reason our Presidents are so fond of "foreign adventures" is because they have so little autonomous power here at home. And the Congress goes along because the distraction allows them to continue with their graft and corruption here at home, and provides the pretext for the waste that underlies all that graft.

The reason they do not like well-run public programs like Social Security or Medicare is that such provide no place for them to dip their buckets into the river of public money passing by.

[lexx21]

11. Look at the benefit that the request and denial has....

If you were Iran and were asked to start seriously joining in on talks, but the party that you are supposed to be talking with has the contingency plan to smoke you if you continue on your present course, that would get me to the talking table pretty quickly.

It sounds like a bit of psychological warfare. Then again I could be completely wrong..... but who knows?

[rachel1]

12. K&R It's nice to see that the British government is growing a spine

and beginning to more closely scrutinize their policies with the US government.

[lunatica]

17. Are they afraid of a Romney Presidency?

Or are they ignoring the Iranian threat of nuclear power? Or do they know something we American citizens don't know.

I think there's more to this story.

[Kindly Refrain]

21. United States of America = Rogue state