Will Hutton (London Observer): Don't sell out to Uncle Sam

[Jack Rabbit]

From the London Observer (Sunday supplement of the Guardian)
Dated Sunday July 20

Don't sell out to Uncle Sam
Until Britain decides whether we are part of Europe or an American protectorate, she will continue to flounder
By Will Hutton

Imagine the media reaction if Mr Blair had flown to Brussels and pressed for relaxation of German and French rules on technology transfer to allow our largest defence contractor, BAE Systems, a better chance of being taken over by one of its leading companies. Imagine, too, that some weeks earlier, to give added spice, his Defence Secretary had said that he wanted to reform the command structures in the British armed forces so they slotted better into the command structures of the fledgling European rapid reaction force.
There would have been bedlam. You can see the front pages of the tabloids and the editorials in the Right-of-centre broadsheets. Yet, as Mr Blair did just this in Washington, running up the white flag over any attempt to sustain a defence infrastructure independent from the US and making a mockery of possible plans for Britain to participate in European collective security arrangements, there has scarcely been a peep.

The lack of debate, however, does not correspond to the importance of the moment. We are to become a satrapy of the Pentagon, with all that implies. BAE's industrial dilemma as Britain's largest manufacturer and biggest defence contractor employing 100,000 people - how to control the widening gap between the US defence industry and Europe's as the Americans dramatically tighten their willingness to allow any form of technological transfer - is forcing an answer to the strategic question of whether Britain defines itself as European or American.
Until now, successive Prime Ministers have been able to avoid the choice. They have had access to high-level American technology such as the Trident and the Tomahawk missile systems as well as collaborating on European defence projects such as the Eurofighter. The US indulged us, regarding the risks of technological leakage as minimal; BAE could, thus, be a big player on both sides of the Atlantic. Not any more.
The Bush administration was determined on the unilateralist militarisation of American foreign policy even before 11 September and, intent on widening US defence leadership, clamped down on even the slightest risk of its technological leadership being accessed by others, even the loyal British.


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