US soldiers banned from London....safety.

Not sure of all details yet and have'nt got a link, but its just been on the Radio 1 news here in the UK that american soldiers stationed in the UK have been banned from travelling inside the M25 (the huge motorway that encircles London) or travelling into London after the attacks last Thursday.

I can understand the concern about going there but i don't think theres any need to stop them going there at all? I'm not sure what this says to the public if even the soldiers are being told to stay away! Does'nt exactly go with the plan to not let the terrorists win does it.

Does anyone know any more? Sorry about the sketchy details, i'll try and update when the news comes on in the next half hour.

CX.

It's in ATSNN too. Basically it's a decision made by local commanders after a terror event like this. It was made by the commanders on site, based on information they had.

Reading this from Sky News...

"US servicemen and women based in Britain have been banned from entering London after the terror bombings, it has emerged.

Areas withing the M25 are out of bounds for members of the US Air Force stationed at two RAF bases in Suffolk.

Some 10,000 personnel were ordered to obey the directive on Thursday in the wake of the attacks.

Matt Tulis, a spokesman at RAF Mildenhall, said: "We are concerned about the safety of our folks and are trying to do what we can to protect them.
This is the best course of action right now"

Half of those banned from travelling to the capital are based at RAF Lakenheath.

Staff Sgt Feff Hamm, at the base, said: "Because the attacks are so recent there is an uncertainty as to the reasons why and how imminent the threat is right now.

Obviously it is in the interests of the air force to ensure its personel are as vigilant and as safe as possible.

The revelation comes as Londoners have been encouraged to return to work and use public transport as normal"


Thats all they say on the issue at the moment. Hopefully we won't hear the US forces getting a slating over this as theres not much you can do when you are given directives by the hierarchy.

CX.

update:
this has now been rescinded by the US military, as far as im aware it was only one US base that was given that intsructions ?

I can understand the concern about going there but i don't think theres any need to stop them going there at all?

This is because the DOD conducts it's own simplified investigation overseas whenever something such as the London Bombings or an attack occurs. It's just an extra saftey precaution to determine if it's safe are not.

Pretty much they find out if it was Americans or servicemembers that were the primary targets. It is usually done by Army CID, Airfirce OSI or Navy NCIS. Even if the Feds do an investigation the Military will sometimes do their own. Thier findings and rules made based on the investigation will effect all DOD persons in that area...in this case it was that base or whatever. This would not effect like Servicemembers assigned to the State Department or something like that because they fall under the DOS and not DOD when it comes to curfews and travel restrictions.

There are a number of reasons why that could happen....that's just one possibility.

sporty

[edit on 12/7/2005 by SportyMB]