When the USA goes to war, the UK is usually there as well. They are seen as the faithful Tonto to the US Lone Ranger.

So how come, despite previous agreements that the US would always inform the UK about any US planes landing in the UK which are carrying bombs, the US has been failing to do so ?

Bush even had to apologize to Tony Blair for "bomb-laden" US planes landing at Prestwick Airport in the UK, without the UK being informed.

It has now emerged that the USA is transporting bombs to Israel via UK airports, where they land for refueling, and the USA is still not informing the UK.

Is Bush trying to alienate his best ally ?
The point is that Prestwick Airport is surrounded by residential areas, and "armed" military flights are banned from landing there due to the high risk of casulties.

They use an alternative military base nearby for refueling.

So because US doesn’t want anyone to know about the flights they have kept quiet and allowed the planes to refuel at a civilian airport, instead of a military one.
If the US had "come clean" about the cargo then they would have refueled at a military airport, and no one would have been any the wiser.

US planes take-off, land and refuel in the UK all of the time. The rule is that if they are carrying weapons they do it at military bases.

The US decided to keep these flights secret and so declared that the planes weren’t carrying weapons. This meant that they could be refueled at a civilian airport.

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Filed under: flights to israel