THE deal terminating the Bermuda bases agreement was a "complete and utter sell-out" that saw Government sacrifice the island's long-term interests so the United Kingdom's relations with the United States were not damaged in the short term by diplomatic bickering over "disaster areas" left behind here by the Pentagon, former Premier Sir John Swan said yesterday.

Dismissing the exchange of diplomatic notes in Washington, DC last Monday between the US and UK - with Bermuda's Government acting as a co-signatory - an incensed Sir John charged that Government allowed itself to be hoodwinked by both the British and Americans into accepting "30 pieces of silver" in the form of a token $11 million one-time US pay-out to cover the costs of repairing Longbird Bridge.

"What's the $11 million based on? We've had a problem with Longbird Bridge for years," he said. "This $11 million won't cover anywhere near the cost of replacing it and obviously won't even begin to cover the costs of repairing the environmental damage at the former baselands. "What was the formula that was used to determine the $11 million figure? We haven't been told. Judas did better than we did for selling out Jesus Christ when you factor in the relative value of silver in the first century AD.

"There was no gun pointed to our head requiring us to accept these terms. We should have stood firm and required both the British and the Americans to live up to their obligations regarding the environmental mess left behind in Bermuda by the US military.

"The fact is that we have been betrayed by the United States, betrayed by the United Kingdom and betrayed by our own Government, which acquiesced to what the UK wanted - namely, no rocking of the boat in terms of its relationship with Washington.

"So how can the Bermuda Government then turn around and say the UK may underwrite the cost of cleaning up the ecological disaster areas that exist on these lands at some point in the future? There's nothing in writing. We have not only let the Americans off the hook, we have signed away any claim we might have had to requiring the British to clean up this mess."

After the US quit its bases in Bermuda in 1995, it was discovered there had been massive environmental damage at both the East End site of the former Naval Air Station and at the 250-acre US Naval Annex in Southampton. Two years ago a study by British technical experts concluded it would cost a minimum of $50 million to decontaminate the baselands.

The worst afflicted area is the cave system beneath the former Annex, now known as Morgan's Point, which is tentatively designated as the site of a multi-million-dollar tourism/residential development. A combination of raw sewage and leaked fuel oil from underground containers had flooded the caves over several decades, a situation that "stunned" the British team and which was described in their final report as "revolting".

Sir John said Works Minister Alex Scott's contention that developers might also take on the cost of clearing pollution at the baselands was unimaginable unless such private concern extracted "the most fiercesome tax concessions imaginable" from Bermuda.

"No developer is going to invest a minimum of $50 or $60 million cleaning up the depredations left at the baselands without demanding concessions - major tax concessions - from Bermuda in return," said Sir John. "The result of any such concessions, by definition, means that Bermuda will lose any revenues that could be generated by new industries set established on ten per cent of its land mass.

"In any event, the cost of insurance for any private developer proposing a clean-up on this scale would almost certainly be prohibitively expensive. There's virtually no insurance company in the world that's going to underwrite both the potential liabilities involved in the removal of this waste as well as those that could result from any long-term effects these toxins might have on future residents of these lands. The sums involved are simply mind-boggling."

"When is Bermuda going to wake up to the fact that there's no such thing as a free lunch? No one is going to bail us out of this mess. Not the British; not the private sector. Government was obliged to get the best deal for Bermuda that it could. And Government failed."

Sir John said he was at a loss to understand why Government chose to agree to the UK and US nullifying the Bermuda leases agreement - which did not expire until 2040 - at this stage without having gained any "but the most paltry and insignificant" concessions from either.

"I simply cannot fathom the reasoning behind 1) Bermuda's decision to sign this agreement, and, 2) the US issuing a statement of good will saying they want to maintain good relations with the island. The Patriot Act aimed at companies that incorporate in Bermuda notwithstanding, we have maintained good relations with the US since the bases here were decommissioned in 1995.

"So were any other concessions given to the US? Were there any secret protocols involved that the Bermudian public is not aware of? What else did we get that can justify us accepting a paltry $11 million and signing off on this agreement? It can't just be a statement of good will."

The long-time former Premier said while he "patiently awaits" for Government to explain why it took the "extraordinary" decision to agree to the termination of the bases lease, Bermudians should remind themselves that despite the international dimensions of the baselands imbroglio it was essentially a landlord/tenant dispute.

"The bottom line is that the multi-million-dollar mess left behind in Bermuda should have been cleaned up by the tenant, in this instance the US military," he said. "The UK, as joint signatories of the original bases agreement in 1941, were obliged to make sure certain safeguards were in place to ensure what happened at the baselands did not in fact happen.

"They were remiss as regards their original obligation; they were similarly remiss in allowing the Americans to get away virtually scot free.

"And now that Bermuda has become a co-signatory to a deal abrogating the bases agreement that frees the US of any financial responsibility for clearing up the waste they have left behind, the island is hardly in a position to go to the UK at some future date and demand they foot the bill.

"There was no rush to terminate the bases agreement. The Bermuda Government should have secured a proper legal opinion as to what our options were in terms of litigation. A proper determination should have been made as to both the US and UK's responsibilities in this matter and the results should have been disseminated to the Bermudian public. Then the island should have made representations to the European Court, if necessary, to compel the British to live up to their obligations."

"In a standard landlord/tenant dispute none of us would ever hesitate to take Joe Blow to court for violating the terms of a lease. This situation is no different except in terms of scale."

Sir John said the long-term economic consequences of allowing both the US and Britain to "shirk their very real responsibilities" regarding the muti-million-dollar pricetag for cleaning up contamination at Bermuda's baselands could be catastrophic.

"What we're saying to future generations of Bermudians is: 'Don't expect to derive any benefits from this land because the tax concessions we'll have to give any would-be developers will be enormous. You will have to foot the bill by way of increased taxes for maintaining the services that Bermuda takes for granted'. The Government has, in a very real way, mortgaged the future of this country.

"The PLP Government is attempting to peddle the notion that we have secured the bases once and for all for Bermuda. Technically, this is true. However, in reality the US abandoned the bases when they left. So their ability to have reactivated any claim to the baselands would have been next to zero in reality.

"The process of signing off on an agreement abrogating the bases deals was a formality, really," he said. "But by agreeing to it at this juncture Bermuda has allowed the US to walk away from any responsibility it has to the island and simultaneously the Bermuda Government has let the UK off the hook as well.

"This agreement was satisfactory to the US and the UK, not Bermuda. For the Bermuda Government to lead the public on in this way, to make Bermudians think they have accomplished something positive, is grossly misleading. Future generations of Bermudians are going to pay the price for their lack of forethought.

"It's a total and utter sell-out. It's totally offensive, really. I cannot believe the UK hoodwinked the Bermuda Government into signing off on this agreement - or that the Bermuda Government didn't have the sense to realise that it was being hoodwinked.

"Bermuda has become a victim of Britain's own ambitions vis-a-vis its relationship with the United States regarding military and economic concerns. Bermuda now has what amounts to a one-crop economy, the financial services industry.

"It is imperative that Bermuda try and shore up its economic fragility by spurring on the baseline revenues of this country. The bases would have been a good foundation upon which to build in this regard. Given they represent such a large chunk of our land mass, the revenues that could have been derived from them should in the future have represented an equally large chunk of our budget planning.

"This is the second most densely populated piece of real estate in the world. It's axiomatic that our sources of revenue have to be diversified if we are to not only maintain the standard of living we now enjoy but to maintain any reasonable standard of living."

"Many people might interpret these comments as preaching doom and gloom. Well, the fact is that most people only become aware of creeping realities when they hit - when it's too late to do anything about them. The process of erosion is already underway and Bermudians have to stop not only burying their heads in the sand as this happens but closing their eyes at the same time.

Sir John said many countries had suffered similar fates, pointing to the overnight economic collapse of Argentina where people are "now eating out of garbage cans in Bueno Aires", until last year the wealthiest city in South America.

"Bermudians must ask themselves whether the standard of living to which they have become accustomed can be maintained without the leadership of this country doing anything of a visionary nature to both shore up and diversify our economic activity, he said.

"Without such diversification and new revenue streams the services we now take for granted, the educational and career opportunities we and our children take for granted, the currency options we think will always be available when it comes to what to do with our money, none of these things will be maintained.

"We might complain about what we don't have now as being unfair - that there are problems with housing, for instance, and career advancement. I'm not denying these are real problems. But if you have a reduction in means, those things become even less available and the result is an acceleration of not just economic woes but the accompanying anxiety and insecurity that makes it even more difficult to survive."

In the clearest indication yet that he is considering a return to the political arena, Sir John - who resigned as Premier in 1995 and retired from his Paget East United Bermuda Party Parliamentary seat before the 1998 General Election - said Bermuda would pay a heavy price for the current Government's lack of foresight.

"The decisions that are made by Government today will have a profound effect on how we live not just now but also in the future," he said. " They will impact on current and future generations of Bermudians.

"I'm not convinced Government is doing a good job when it comes to making these decisions. It is up to every one of us to make a careful evaluation of what is happening around us and ask: 'Are we making the right decisions for the right reasons?'

"Otherwise Bermuda risks ending up like Christopher Colombus - he didn't know where he was going, he didn't know where he was when he got there and when he got back to Spain he didn't know where he had been. And he did it all off someone else's money.

"We need to ensure that Government is doing the right things for Bermuda and that we are in a position to pay for it."