# Rota military base to host NATO missile shield unit



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Good news for Cadiz which has some of the highest unemployment in Spain. 



> NATO has selected the Spanish naval base of Rota in the southern province of Cádiz as its main operating center for the sea-based component of the alliance's anti-missile shield. Under the terms of an agreement negotiated in secret over the past few months, the United States will deploy 1,100 military personnel and 100 civilians to Rota to operate the defense system against ballistic missiles from as far away as Iran and North Korea.
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> ....
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> The four vessels assigned to missile shield duties will be the first US Navy ships to have their permanent base in Spain. US ships that currently make port call visits to Rota are based in Italy. *The government expects that the deployment will create 300 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs along the Bay of Cádiz.* Although the Spanish Navy has four F-100 frigates also equipped with the Aegis system, it is not foreseen for the moment that they will also be deployed as part of the NATO initiative.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> Good news for Cadiz which has some of the highest unemployment in Spain.


Good news indeed.:clap2:


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

The military-industrial complex to the rescue???
When do you think the anti-NATO protests will start?
Will you support them?
Jobs versus U.S. military power......what a dilemma!!

(Suggested slogan: 'Get your missile shields off our beaches!!!', not 'Get your tanks off my lawn')

It's always been the case though that military spending creaytes a lot of jobs and is one area of public expenditure that goveernments of all colours support.


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## Sonrisa (Sep 2, 2010)

sounds like bienvenido mr marshall all over again.

Protests? Dont think so , think 1,300 jobs . 

How comes I cannot find a Smilie  for shrugging shoulders, the spanish way?


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Sonrisa said:


> sounds like bienvenido mr marshall all over again.
> 
> Protests? Dont think so , think 1,300 jobs .
> 
> How comes I cannot find a Smilie  for shrugging shoulders, the spanish way?



I think it's good for jobs too . So I am pleased at the news.
I have to admit to changing my views over these kinds of things, though.
When there was a suggestion that U.S. Cruise missiles might be based at a USAAF airbase near my UK home some thirty years ago, I organised mass protests and got CND to stage its annual march from the base to our town. I was then Town Mayor and addressed the marchers wearing jeans, a CND tshirt and the Mayor's chain of office.
This provoked outrage from the older Conservative members of the Town Council, one of whom stormed into the Council office bearing a newspaper with a photo of me addressing the crowd, sunlight glinting on the Chain of Office and stood shaking with rage, spitting out repeatedly the phrase 'That damned young woman!!!'
The missiles were placed elsewhere as we know.
Our town and surrounding villages would have benefited hugely had the missiles been sited on our doorstep - although we could of course have been obliterated in any nuclear war.
So I've changed my opinion completely and why not?? As someone wisely said: 'When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do?'


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Some years ago it was suggested that a satellite launching base and radar be built here on the island of El Hierro.

However the locals, supported by the habitants of other islands, made such a protest and fuss that the politicians chickened out and dropped the idea like a hot potato.

The signs still read," Ni base ni radar El Hierro para la paz," well peace we have, but I often wonder how many jobs would have been created and how the local economy would have fared had the base been constructed, and what the impact would have been on the tranquillity of the island.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

There have been protests about the base since it was first built, especially when it was used for bombing Iraq and more recently when it was discovered that the US had used it for extraordinary rendition flights. The low-flying aircraft make an unbearable amount of noise but residents' complaints are ignored.

But it's there, it ain't going away, so some good might as well come out of it in the form of jobs.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Hepa said:


> Some years ago it was suggested that a satellite launching base and radar be built here on the island of El Hierro.
> 
> However the locals, supported by the habitants of other islands, made such a protest and fuss that the politicians chickened out and dropped the idea like a hot potato.
> 
> The signs still read," Ni base ni radar El Hierro para la paz," well peace we have, but I often wonder how many jobs would have been created and how the local economy would have fared had the base been constructed, and what the impact would have been on the tranquillity of the island.


I think that would have been great fun - watching a rocket launch a satellite into space every now and then. La Palma has the Observatorio Astrofisico which must have been a major engineering project for such a small island but now appears to have little adverse effect upon it. What was the main objection of the Islanders?


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

jimenato said:


> I think that would have been great fun - watching a rocket launch a satellite into space every now and then. La Palma has the Observatorio Astrofisico which must have been a major engineering project for such a small island but now appears to have little adverse effect upon it. What was the main objection of the Islanders?


They just did not want anything that was influenced by the United States, which the rockets and radar would have been. I think they were worried that they may have been a target in times of conflict.

I have been to Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma, there are umpteen observatories and so high up that they are not noticed.


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