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| Britain |
| Britain 'to allow weapon flights' |
| 2006-07-27 |
| US requests to send two more planes carrying bombs and missiles to Israel via Britain in the next fortnight would probably be approved, The Times newspaper reported in London today. The story follows criticism by British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett of reported stopovers in Scotland of US planes carrying munitions for Israel. Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper said two chartered Airbus A310 cargo planes laden with GBU-28 bombs landed at Scotland's Prestwick airport over the weekend for refuelling and a crew rest on the way to Israel. Ms Beckett said that she had raised the report with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and would issue a formal complaint to Washington if the report was found to be true. The planes that landed at Prestwick had been designated "civilian flights" and US officials had failed to notify British authorities of their hazardous contents, The Times said. It said that the diplomatic row was more about procedure than principle, and quoted an unnamed senior government official saying flights through Prestwick "will be allowed to continue". "It is a right we have always granted." The White House, too, has dismissed British concerns about the allegations, with spokesman Tony Snow yesterday calling it "a paperwork question". The report came as British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared to fly to the US today for a five-day trip. He is not expected to raise the issue with US President George W. Bush. In recent months Prestwick has also been the subject of claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used it for so-called "extraordinary rendition" flights to transport security suspects to third countries where torture might be used. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |