Close All US Military Bases in the UK

The cold war is now over and there is no need for the US to have military bases on British soil.

America is a huge backer of Israel, who's nation is continues to be a rogue state acting against the will of the international community. Did you know there are more outstanding UN resolutions against Israel that any other state?

yet America conitues to arm Israel and during the 2006 conflict they used British airports without permisson to transport weapons to Israel.

news.bbc.co.uk...

what are your views on this subject and feel free to sign this petition on the downing street website, if enough signatures are put togther it gets forwarded onto ministers to review

petitions.pm.gov.uk...

America is our ally. American bases have not harmed us. Why do we need to break down air stopping routes and goodwill with our greatest ally, who stood with us, admittedly quite late, but better late than never, against Hitler.

do we owe them for the rest of eternity?

and just to add we paid them for their support in WW2 (just paid it off last year) how many times have we stood with america on their foreign policies? how much have we received from the US govenment for british support in iraq and afghanistan?

this special relationship only works one way i'm afraid.

i wonder if the US govenment (and americans) would approve of the idea of british bases set up on american land incase the argentines decide to invade the falklands again.

You can build alliances or you can undo them. America helped us enormously during the liberation of the Falklands on a diplomatic and as they were doing that through the intelligence networks as well. We do not have to have allies for eternity, but it sure helps.

reply to post by st3ve_o


i completly agree with you
if they want an military complex build it in another country that has the people that support US presense in their country, as right now a large majority of us dont want it.

also the US has done a great job with our current leaders to get us stuck in a dead end war and get our people killed both at the hand of insurgents/terrorists and american friendly fire (so called acidents)

or are the yanks going to keep on using the ww2 aginst the UK everytime this issue comes up.
in that case the french should have used the liberation of the americans from britain when the americans got pissed off at the french.

reply to post by st3ve_o


I understand what you're trying to say with that point, st3ve_o (i.e. what would Americans think if the UK decided to set up air bases in America), but a base in the US to protect the Falklands wouldn't do much good because it's 3,000-4,000 miles away at best

The RAF maintain a base on the Falklands themselves now, and with the new aircraft carriers on the way our expeditionary air force capacity would be far, far greater (in terms of both size and sophistication) than in 1982.

Onto the issue, though. I don't really object to the US maintaining bases on UK soil. Conditions should be attached, obviously; we can 'borrow' a base in the United States if its necessary for some reason, for example. Or we can use the US bases in Britain ourselves if we need to. But I don't object to their presence per se, provided our hospitality is not abused. Besides the UK mainland, we have many strategic bases all around the world which the US finds useful (Ascension Island, Diego Garcia, Cyprus, Gibraltar) so it's in their interests to conduct themselves with decorum.

From an American, i say lets get our bases out of the UK, and the rest of the world, just hand control over the the countires that they are in, and have a provision that in a MAJOR conflict, that we can come and help you guys out. I would offer the same to the UK, but there aren't any enemies in the Americas that can/would threaten the UK(or is there?), so a base in the US for the UK wouldn't serve any purpose... But in the off chance Cannda starts attacking the UK, well, i guess we will let you refuel here(highly hypotheical).

The US should be able to defend anywhere in the world with thier Aircraft carriers anyway...

reply to post by TKainZero


That's good comment. I think that if politicians concentrated more on their domestic policy, rather than having to big it up internationally all the time and interfere in other countries, the world would be a much safer, happier and more respectful place.



[edit on 14-10-2007 by redled]

reply to post by TKainZero


At the moment, there are no threats to the UK in the Americans... but in the future, who can say? Maybe the Falklands are attacked and Chavez gets involved. A base on the south east coast of the US would be helpful then.

Not quite sure about Canada. I really can't see them attacking us... well, not in my lifetime

The links (political, economic, cultural, social) are far too strong.

I have a question; are the USAF bases in the UK just USAF only bases or are they shared by the USAF and the Royal Air Force?

I know that back when we had bases in Panama and the Philippines, the bases were jointly shared between the US and Filipino military and the US and the Panamanian Defense Force (until we destroyed in 1989 - 90).

As for the UK using our bases, I have seen Royal Navy and HM Customs & Excise vessels at Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico and I once saw a RAF aircraft (looked like a C-130) at Ramey Air Force Base/Rafael Hernandez Intl. Airport also in Puerto Rico ... I assume they were there for anti smuggling work.

Yes, the Cold war is over...or is it? One never knows does one. WWI was once called the "war to end all wars", oddly enough is didn't quite work out that way did it?

But I agree, let's close the bases in England, for that matter the ones in Germany, South Korea, Japan, and elsewhere. I really have no issue with that, just have an agreement in place that should it become neccessary the bases can be reopened, or new ones put into place. Seems an equitable solution to me.

reply to post by ChrisF231


As far as I'm aware, some are solely used by the USAF and some are used jointly between the RAF and USAF. The bases belong to the UK Ministry of Defence and are subject to British laws and regulations, but they are 'leased' (for lack of a better term) to the USAF under various treaties and agreements.

The US pays for the general upkeep of their bases whilst they use them, and any extra police presence (e.g. to monitor large-scale protests as seen in the 1980s at Greenham Common or more recently in the run up to the Iraq War) is paid for by the United States since it can't deploy its own forces as they have no jurisdiction in the United Kingdom.

The US bases in the UK aren't just used for military purposes, though: RAF Fairford, for instance, is one of the emergency landing sites in Europe for NASA space shuttles should their missions have to be aborted, or they can't land in the United States for some reason (e.g. the weather being unsuitable). I believe the B-2 bombers were based there too during the Iraq War (it was either Fairford or Boscombe Down - Britain's Area 51 ).

[edit on 15/10/07 by Ste2652]