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UK: Hoon signs Britain up for "son of star wars":

01 January 2003

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In January, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, announced that the government had agreed to an earlier US request for use of the Fylingdales radar station in West Yorkshire for its missile defence system - the so called "son of star wars" project. Despite concern from more than 200 MPs, there was no parliamentary vote or formal consultation - save for a glossy, "public discussion paper" which loosely spells out the government's intentions and cites the benefits missile defence will bring (job creation, security). The deal, which is likely to be the first of many on missile defence, will see batteries of "interceptor rockets" placed at bases in Britain. Although the US will pay for the cost of upgrading Fylingdales, UK tax-payers will foot the bill for the rockets. It is a further blow to hopes that multilateral arms proliferation treaties will survive the "war on terrorism" and "rogue states". Former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle accused the government of accepting any "crackpot notion" put forward by the "ideologues in Washington" and "furthering global destabilisation". Guardian 16.1.03; Chartist, Jan/Feb 2003, p.16; Labour Left Briefing December 2001, p.8.

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