RAF MILDENHALL, England — One of England’s main opposition parties has condemned a planned U.S. missile defense system that includes Air Force bases and personnel in the U.K.
The formal condemnation by the Liberal Democrats party came earlier this month during its spring policy conference.
Part of the system will be based at England’s RAF Menwith Hill, home to a National Security Agency eavesdropping station.
The system “risks destabilizing relations with Russia and will undermine international agreements,” according to a statement by Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Minister Nick Harvey issued after the conference.
The Liberal Democrats are essentially England’s third political party, holding fewer seats in Parliament than the ruling Labour party or the Conservative party, both of which support the plan.
Harvey also took issue with the fact that the Labour government published a press release last year on Parliament’s last day in session before the summer recess stating that Menwith Hill would host a section of the missile defense program, an initiative he dubbed “son of Star Wars.”
“Despite (former Prime Minister) Tony Blair’s pledge that there would be a parliamentary debate ... this crucial decision was smuggled out in a written statement at a time designed to get the minimum possible coverage,” Harvey said. “This decision is further evidence of the Government’s slavish desire to do whatever the US demands, regardless of the long term risks.”
The party is not against missile defense per se, but is concerned with the “go-it-alone” approach the U.S. is pursuing, Claire Yorke, a Liberal Democrats spokeswoman, said in an e-mail last week.
“We consider it to be detrimental to wider relations and international disarmament efforts,” Yorke said. “We believe that before deployment there must be a serious risk assessment undertaken.”
In addition to “tremendous technological difficulties” with the missile defense program — an embryonic system that would include hubs in eastern Europe — Yorke said the program “is not sufficient to keep Britain safe and does little more than provoke potential enemies.”
The initiative could cause relations to deteriorate between NATO and Russia as well, she said.
“We are greatly concerned that as the US Missile Defence programme progresses it will continue to undermine arms control and the stand-off with Russia will continue to worsen.”
That formal opposition likely will not affect plans going forward, according to Charles Ferguson, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
“The Bush administration appears adamant about moving ahead with deployment of missile defense in Europe,” he said this week in an e-mail. “I think there is little that any condemnation of the plan would do to alter the course of action.”
