Nuclear weapons moved out of the region
East Anglia

27th June 2008
By Emily Dennis
Eastern Daily Press
 

Experts said last night that nuclear weapons had finally been removed from East Anglia soil.

The apparent move brings to an end five decades of Norfolk and Suffolk being on the nuclear frontline - many of them spent as a target for Cold War reprisal.

Anti-nuclear campaigners were celebrating after authoritative reports by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said that the United States has withdrawn nuclear arms from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk .

The study said that the last 110 American nuclear weapons on UK soil were withdrawn from the airbase on the orders of President George Bush, more than 50 years after they were first deployed in 1954.

The report's author, nuclear weapons expert, Hans Kristensen, said the move - which has not been officially announced - could have happened over the last few years, but had only come to light on Wednesday.

A British defence source said he understood the weapons had been withdrawn several years ago. "They were kept at an off-site location," he said. "I thought they went some time ago."

Mr Kristensen described the withdrawal of the B-61 bombs as part of a general strategic shift since the end of the Cold War, and follows the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Ramstein Air Base in Germany in 2005 and Greece in 2001.

"The northern front is not very relevant any more for these deployments," he said. "The US nuclear posture is almost entirely focused on the southern region, in Incirlik (in Turkey) and Aviano (in Italy)."

Kate Hudson, chairman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), said the organisation was delighted with the news.

"The news that these bombs have been withdrawn from Lakenheath is extremely welcome," she said.

"We would like official confirmation from the Government that this has happened and believe an open admission will be a confidence-boosting measure for future disarmament initiatives.

"However, withdrawal of the tactical nuclear weapons from Lakenheath should not now give way to the installation of interceptor missiles for the US Missile Defence System, a proposal Tony Blair put to the US in February last year.

"To withdraw the Cold War weapons but still pursue US Missile Defence would be to replace one historical arms race with another, with Europe again at the centre."

Her views were echoed by Mell Harrison, eastern region CND campaigns and Lakenheath action group member. She said: "This is fantastic news, but it's very interesting that the US government has kept this secret.

"We would like this news to be confirmed or denied by the base and also like to know if these nukes where flown out over the UK."

"CND and Lakenheath action group have vowed to keep a close eye on these US bases and have concerns about USAF Lakenheath being used as a future base for National Missile Defence interceptor missiles."

The Pentagon, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Lakenheath airbase all declined to comment on the report - as they have always routinely done on issues involving nuclear arms.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said: "We cannot say very much. We are aware of the article. As a matter of policy we will not confirm the location or presence of any nuclear weapons at any sites."

A MoD Spokesman said: "We are not prepared to comment on speculation or rumours. It is both Nato and UK policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location."

A US airforce spokeswoman at the base said: "As a matter of policy, the US does not confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons at particular locations."

Kristensen says that it is a “big puzzle” why Nato and the US have decided to keep the withdrawals secret.

"The explanation might simply be that 'nuclear' always means secret, that it was done to prevent a public debate about the future of the rest of the weapons, or that the Bush administration just doesn't like arms control," he writes.

The FAS was founded in 1945 by former scientists on the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb, as a means of spreading information about the dangers posed by the new weapons.

The study is being published a few days after Kristensen published a leaked US air force internal report saying that most European bases where US nuclear weapons were stored had inadequate security.

Lakenheath action group, CND and Theatre of War, will be protesting outside RAF Feltwell, on July 4 at 5.30pm.

Kristensen's report can be found at www.fas.org/blog/ssp/.

 
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