Prime purpose for Fylingdales (From Gazette & Herald)

Prime purpose for Fylingdales

THANK you for reporting that the recent meeting to supposedly discuss the updating of Fylingdales was not what people imagined it would be (Gazette & Herald, January 8). "The format was that when Geoff Hoon answered a question, no one was given any opportunity to come back," one of the invited guests commented.

Your photograph showed a heavy police presence in a lay-by at the Hole of Horcum, presumably to protect Geoff Hoon. Council tax payers are to have their tax raised yet again, the bulk of their payments is to fund the police. We are all well aware of the lack of police cover in our towns and villages. Having such a large number of police and vehicles standing about doing nothing is a disgraceful waste of public money. It was especially annoying when he said himself that "it is highly improbable" that Flyingdales was a terrorist target.

This is in line with previous MOD statement which "insisted that the upgrade would place Fylingdales at no greater risk because missile defence was aimed at rogue states such as Iraq and North Korea which would not be able to target the base with a missile." However at the Goathland meeting Hoon, according to a press report, signalled that "he did not want to go down in history as the British defence secretary who missed the opportunity to give the UK protection against rogue states armed with ballistic missiles". If not Iraq, nor North Korea, then which states did he mean?

Hoon reportedly stated: "Britain was not committing itself to anything - we would not necessarily be committing ourselves to have missile defence for the UK". He is also quoted as saying: "Not only would the radar detect incoming missiles, there would also, if we judged it in our interests to do so, be the possibility of us being able to intercept those incoming missiles."

From those quotes (Yorkshire Post, January 7), it seems clear that the prime purpose in updating Fylingdales is for the defence of the USA.

RON FLOREY

Thornton-le-Dale

Updated: 11:48 Wednesday, January 22, 2003