US arms flight diverted from Scotland after cabinet protest
AFP
Date: 07-31-06
LONDON (AFP) - Two US cargo planes believed to be carrying bombs bound for Israel were kept from stopping over in Scotland because of protests in the British cabinet, the BBC said.
According to the BBC, the Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander told Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett in a telephone conversation that he did not want a political fall-out from the cargo planes going through Scotland.
At that point, Defence Secretary Des Browne offered a transit point through England, the BBC said.
A reporter for the broadcaster also said unidentified sources suggested that at least six planes carrying material for the Israeli war effort went through Britain over the weekend.
Three of them carried military munitions, such as bombs and ammunition, while three others had military-associated equipment, such as fins fitted to bombs to guide them to targets, the reporter said.
The planes were diverted to RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, eastern England, which is operated by the US Air Force. They were supposed to have flown through Glasgow's Prestwick airport.
News of the diversion came as about 150 people demonstrated outside Prestwick on Sunday following news that two previous US cargo flights stopped at the airport carrying bombs to Israel from the United States.
The reports caused a diplomatic mini-spat because Britain had not been informed of the hazardous nature of the planes' cargo.
Prestwick's coastal location on the trans-Atlantic flight path makes it a regular staging post for aircraft crossing the ocean.
Source
About headlines and content that has changed after it was added to this site - see disclaimer here
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.