--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 03:12:00 -0800
From: Deuce <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: US navy to bomb tip of Scotland
Sender: Deuce <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], APFN
<[log in to unmask]>, Direct Action Network
<[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
Reply-To: Deuce <[log in to unmask]>
Message-ID: <02ae01bf487f$8b88ad60$d1fde0cf@johnkim>
No-WTO
Thursday, December 16, 1999
<http://www.scmp.com/News/World/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-1999121603252
5079.asp>
EUROPE TODAY
US navy to bomb tip of Scotland
BRITAIN by IAN MARKHAM-SMITH
The United States navy is to bomb a remote Scottish beauty spot with live
ammunition after being banned from its Caribbean firing range.
The navy was forced to pull out of its base in Puerto Rico after
accidentally killing a security guard in April.
Ships and planes will descend on Cape Wrath, the northwestern tip of
Scotland within weeks.
A taskforce headed by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower includes two guided
missile cruisers, four guided missile destroyers and two frigates. The
ships will have a complement of 8,360 crew.
They will be allowed to drop high-explosive bombs, and fire shells and
missiles at the tiny island of Garvie and at a restricted area on the
mainland for several weeks.
The manoeuvres have caused outrage in Scotland. Scottish National Party
leader Alex Salmond said: "America has an abundance of its own natural
coastline. I would have thought their navy could have practised there."
The Scottish Green Party's Robin Harper said: "It is completely
preposterous. The United States navy has a terrible record for
incompetence. So why are they coming to blast Scotland?"
The navy was forced to abandon its base on the Puerto Rican island of
Vieques after a Marine corps jet dropped two 227kg bombs off target,
hitting an observation tower. Islanders occupied the site and demanded a
halt to the use of live explosives.
Just a month later, a Marine fighter jet accidentally fired 263
armour-piercing shells loaded with depleted uranium into the range,
breaking several laws.
The navy had used the range on Vieques, between Puerto Rico and the US
Virgin Islands, for live firing for 58 years.
President Bill Clinton is desperately trying to negotiate a return. But
while talks continue, the US has been allowed to use Cape Wrath.
A spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence said: "The Royal Navy uses
Cape Wrath for live firing several times a year."
But John Ainslie, of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said:
"It is a disgrace . . . Scotland is now at the receiving end of the
'special relationship' between Britain and America."
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