MPs to probe claims that the U.S. is operating a secret 'drone war' from Britain's RAF bases

Recruitment: US company Bosh Global Services has been advertising for staff at the RAF base to support the US Air Force's armed drone. A US solider operated a Reaper drone remotely in Nevada (above)

Sunday, March 17, 2013

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MPs are to investigate claims that the Pentagon is running a secret drone war from RAF bases inside the UK.

The move follows The Mail on Sunday’s revelation last week that a drones company is openly recruiting US security-cleared staff to work on American military operations from Britain.

Bosh Global Services, the firm at the centre of the allegations, wants drone personnel to work at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.

Bosh says the new staff should have military experience and will support the US Air Force’s armed drone, the Predator, which has killed hundreds of people in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

MPs from the all-party parliamentary group on drones will now consider the evidence of a US ‘operations centre’ at the RAF base at their next meeting.

John Hemming MP, treasurer of the parliamentary group, said: ‘If Americans are involved in extra-judicial killings from the UK then we should be told.’

The committee’s action is supported by Labour’s former Security Minister Lord West of Spithead, who said: ‘If there are drone attacks being operated by the Americans from this country against targets in countries with which we are not at war, then I, the public and Parliament should be made aware.’Last week Bosh pulled the recruitment documents from its website and removed all references to RAF Waddington.

The revelation has sparked claims of British complicity in the USAF assassination programme, which human rights groups have branded unlawful and is now being investigated by the United Nations.

RAF Waddington has been designated as Britain’s first drone centre but will not be operational until next year, when it will fly five fully armed Reaper drones.

Last night the Ministry of Defence confirmed that Virginia-based Bosh was working at RAF Waddington but was only supporting UK operations. An MoD spokesman said: ‘There are no US Reaper support facilities operating in the UK.’

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