2026-06-26
37 分钟This is The Guardian.
Today, a British citizen was assaulted in Cambridge.
Why did the US military decide her case?
Just before we start, today's episode does include discussions of sexual and physical assault so please take care.
It's the spring of this year and Guardian Investigations reporter Harry Davis is in the east of England.
My colleague Rob Evans and I we're in the car and we are driving
through a very luscious green English countryside in Suffolk.
Their destination, one of the many US military bases scattered across the UK.
It's called RAF Lake and Heath.US Air Force planes use it as a base, even heading off to conflict zones like Iran.
As you approach the base you realise
that you're approaching something secretive because there is a high perimeter fence, barbed wire.
There are armed guards who check you in and they have very large guns
and you enter into this little slice of America as it were.
There are certain vehicles that are clearly American and then there are also,
you know, restaurants and things like Taco Bell that's actually a drive-through
and there's also a sort of miniature Statue of Liberty on the base.
It feels like it's a little kind of pocket of Americana in West Suffolk.
Harry and Rob then make their way to a bland brick structure.
The building looks like a sort of 90s, very modern building.
It's the base's courtroom and it's here where US Air Force personnel are court-martialed.