Americans have been falling over themselves to spin the London bombings into arguments for Bush’s policies; to couple 9/11 with 7/7 and present America and Britain as joined at the hip. Here’s Bush: “Just as America and Great Britain stood together to defeat the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century, we now stand together against the murderous ideologies of the 21st century.” But apparently “standing together” is for politicians, not the military. Yahoo! reports:
All 12,000 members of the U.S. Air Force stationed in Britain have been banned from visiting London because of last week’s bombings…. A U.S. spokeswoman was quoted as saying that military staff were not allowed to go anywhere inside the M25 orbital motorway belt surrounding the capital until further notice, “because the security of our people is our top concern.”
“Family members who are U.S. civilians and are not subject to orders are also being encouraged to stay away from London,” the spokeswoman, Cindy Dorfner, was quoted as saying.
The response of the British media was appropriately caustic. The Daily Mail said it best: “It was business as usual in brave and resilient London yesterday — though not if you were a member of the world’s most powerful military machine.”
I wonder how New Yorkers would have reacted if, after 9/11, the U.S. Air Force had banned all visits to the Big Apple because it was too dangerous. They have a legendary capacity for invective; I imagine that “chickenhawk” would have been the least of the epithets…
UPDATE: According to the Guardian, the ban has now been lifted – but not before it had disrupted U.S. participation in various ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War 2.
Some of the most incredulous comments came from Thomas Conlon, the UK director of American Citizens Abroad:
“These same people who are being restricted from London are being flown into Baghdad,” he said. “If they’re going into Baghdad, I can’t imagine why they aren’t allowed to go into London.”
He said he estimated that around 80% of Britain’s 250,000 expat Americans lived in London. “I’m surprised at the military that they would do this,” he added. “If you go to the city, the American expats are all back at work now.”
Indeed. But they’re doing really important stuff, like making money. Any comments from the Pentagon about this stupid decision?