US needs the UK as much as the UK needs the US

I recently started a thread on here about the Falkland Islands dispute and soon realised that there was a few anti Brit American citizens. So in response to that I have dedicated this thread to those that do not appreciate our relationship as much as the rest of us do.

Firstly Let me name a few US bases that America has on British Soil

Diego Garcia (British Indian Ocean)
Ascension Islands ( Mid Atlantic Ocean)
Menwith Hill (Yorkshire, UK)
Aiyos Nikolaos (Cyprus UK Soverign Base Area)
RAF Alconbery
RAF Barford St. John
RAF Bentwaters
RAF Belnheim Crescent
RAF Chicksands
RAF Fairford
RAF Feltwell
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Mildenhall
RAF Molesworth
RAF Upwood
RAF Welsord

Then we could mention the Echelon project

en.wikipedia.org...

As you can see we can start to see that the UK provides some very strategic outposts for the US Military. I will now go on to talk about some of them and why they are so strategic.

First of all Lets take a look at Diego Garcia, this is located deep into the Indian Ocean and is British Soverign Teritory that we lease to the USA.




This Island has an operating US Naval base with an estimated population of 3500. The base contains a deep water harbour for Submarine and Surface vessels. It has an Airstrip, Radar and Satellite communications and importantly houses Telemetary control for the US Military Satellite's in Orbit over that area of the wrold.

The Island is a supply outpost and is strategic because it provides the USA with a platform to Oper\te Navy in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. This Island will be instrumental with any Strike on Iran.

Echelon

This is a combined project by the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand of which operating bases are set up to intercept communications.

What is the UK's biggest contribution to the USA on this issue then?

Well the UK used to be the soverign owner of Cyprus and when the UK granted them independance there was a treaty drawn up to leave two Soverign base areas to the UK, these are called WSBA and ESBA. The treaty granted permission for any UK serving member to operate from these bases. However the Cypriot government currently prohibits any operation of US Military personelle on their Island.

Why is Cyprus so important?

Well as you can see by the map, Cyprus is in a very strategic area as it lies directly off the western coast of the middle east.

www.salsapower.com...

How do the US benafit if they are not allowed serving members on the base?

Well this is where a bit of conjecture comes in however it is rumored that the UK provides some listening posts to the Middle East and a relay station for communications between the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere. It is also rumored that the US covertly operates the U2 out of RAF Akrotiri based on the Island.

So next time you think that the British are insignificant to the USA please remember that the UK offers a very strategic set of operating bases for the USA and that the UK is not just your lap dog. I still stand by the notion that that UK can get in many places diplomatically that the USA just cannot access and although the US does help the UK an aweful lot it isn't as one sided as you first thought.

To all those intelligent Americans that appreciate the UK-US friendship, please accept my appologies for the tone of the post, but my intention is to convince those anti Brit minorities that we do need each other.

Thanks.

how many bases does britain have on u.s. soil. my guess would be zero. this seems like a one way street.

it's pretty pathetic of the once mighty british empire.

Originally posted by randomname
how many bases does britain have on u.s. soil. my guess would be zero. this seems like a one way street.

it's pretty pathetic of the once mighty british empire.

The RAF operates out of Nellis, however there is no strategic benefit to the UK having bases in the US as we have bases in Canada who is soverign to the Crown. The US shares alot of its technology with the UK and also co-operate in training war games in the UK and the USA.

And I am not sure how you rate it as pathetic as if the UK withdrew their goodwill on letting the US operate in our teritory then the US would be in deep doo doo strategically as well as losing telemetary for it's Satellites over East africa and middle east.

A lot of stuff that I have been tracking seems to be honing in around the idea that the U.K. and the U.S. are still a lot more politically connected than most people seem to think. I know that there are a number of conspiracy theories out there that relate to that idea and I have always pretty much dismissed them, but a couple of things have gotten me really thinking.

For a few years I have been pondering the special relationship between Canada and the U.K. (shared Queen and all). Then when considering NAFTA and thoughts about moving forward with a North American Union, that special relationship raises questions about the relationship with the E.U. When the U.K. declined the recent changes meant to protect the Euro there was a lot of "City of London" talk.

I honestly haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet but Cameron used the phrase several times while addressing Parliament the day after his no vote in a way that indicated that yes, he meant something much, much greater than the physical "City of London".

I think that the connections between the U.K,, Canada, and the U.S. are in fact much, much stronger than most of us believe. I believe that we legally are bound to each other which makes the U.K. decline of the new E.U. changes make even more sense. I haven't been able to get to the bottom of it though because I land in really thick conspiracy theory every time I look into it. Perhaps that far fringe is correct after all, but I suspect that there is an economic trail somewhere and that's the one I want to find.

And, it doesn't really bother me that we need them and they need us. It's not a new development.

UK and US communicate through XBL

We Ford each others backs

reply to post by michael1983l


You missed one of your list. GCHQ at Cheltenham:-

en.wikipedia.org...

every country in the world would be better of without uk and usa interference

3rd line

reply to post by alldaylong



You are right however I did not mention that one because the majority of the Forces based there are British, but indeed there is many American Intelligence officers there.

Originally posted by three1zero
every country in the world would be better of without uk and usa interference

3rd line

All American and the UK has tried to do historically is Civilize the world. During th Empire days the UK pretty much laid the foundations to India's infrastructure including schools, hospitals and Transit links. They did many a bad deed during the process but it has lead India onto growing their economy to the point where peoples standards of living are going to rapidly increase in coming years in India. I am not ashamed of the US getting rid of Tyrants and trying to establish democratic governments, in the long term it will benefit their people.

Pisses me off the US Army store WMD's on British Land because if a country decides to target US Missile sites then the UK is going to be targeted for something which is not a UK matter.

But I am suprised the US haven't got any naval or army presence in Gibralter considering its Geographical locations.

Cyprus is a brilliant piece of land to have for tactical use as the UK found out during the Libyan Campaigns they used and Italy as fuel stops e.t.c.

reply to post by naff1234


We'd still get targeted even if the US didn't store WMD's in the UK because we are part of NATO and any attack on the US would mean that the UK has to react with equivelant force to the attackers as per the treaty directives. The UK cleverly holds its nuclear strike threat on very advanced submarines, meaning that if it came to full blown war any nation would be reluctant to Nuke the UK as they will not know where the retaliatry threat would come from. The UK has the most advanced submarine fleet in the world, that is one thing we can still be proud of. I would hazard a guess that there is one permanently stationd off the coast of China, middle east, Brazil and Russia at any given moment.

There is probably one at this very moment off the coast of north korea nervously watching after our involvement in the 50's.

True we have a brilliant naval fleet especially sub marines but how long and how many budget cuts will it take to change this??

reply to post by naff1234


Despite the cuts coparitivly our Military budget is very high compared to the rest of the world, 4th highest in fact. Even higher than Russia, the trouble is that our procurement is a shambles, the sooner they start spending money wisely the more military we will have and the less failed projects and red tape.

Yeah its all well having a budget of thus but if they put it in the wrong areas i take it you mean?

If i had my way we would have The Largest on earth considering the Empire we once had

You don't need to defend the UK to the U.S. Most Americans love the UK. Whereas most British dislike and project their insecurities onto the U.S.

reply to post by michael1983l


I think that you will find that it is not the case. There is always one Vanguard Class boat at sea, one in refit, one in training and one ready to replace the one at sea patrolling. I am not sure that there are actually 4 boats worth of crew.

Originally posted by Drezden
You don't need to defend the UK to the U.S. Most Americans love the UK. Whereas most British dislike and project their insecurities onto the U.S.

I don't think that is a correct statement, some people in the UK get the feeling that we are exploited by the US sometimes and some people don't like their Identity being taken away by theUK's adoption of American popular culture. But I do not think the UK is anti American in general.

reply to post by michael1983l
Dads a yank.
Mums a Brit (actually from Scotland)

I love and admire and respect both countries.

History, culture, the fighters and bloody determination.

I'm in the US Army but will never forget my roots.

Cheers,
Beez

I don't Dislike the US at all.

I am very realist of how the brits feel towards this so called War on Everyone who poses a threat to the US it annoys me we get dragged in because our government are too pussy to make their own decisions.

I have no issues with the people of the US just the Government of the US and their policies

reply to post by michael1983l


You missed one of the most important.


RAF Croughton




en.wikipedia.org...

RAF Croughton is a United States Air Force communications base in Northamptonshire, England, to the southeast of the village of Croughton. The station is home to the 422nd Air Base Group and operates one of Europe's largest military switchboards and processes approximately a third of all U.S. military communications in Europe.

Also the now closed RAF Heyford

en.wikipedia.org...

I flew to France as kid from RAF Heyford with a load of Americans... was very cool.



And also remember loads of planes flying out during the first Gulf War