Tuollaf43 wrote:

err - the US Carriers, bombers and tanks protect the Europeans from
whom exactly? Who is about to murder the germans, rape the french and
pillage the Brits? For instance I am at a loss to understand who
threatens the physical security of the UK? Why does UK or France need
Carriers?

Not many moons back, we were given to believe that Saddam threatened the
physical security of UK interests.

Specifically, the impression was given that his "45-minute" weapons
included missiles with sufficient range to hit Akrotiri.

Bliar and Buff'oon now tell us that that was not *their* interpretation
of the relevant bits of the dossier, but they didn't bother to tell that
to Paxo or Kirsty on Newsnight at the time.