Free Republic

British military chiefs are drawing up plans to help American airstrikes in Iraq, the Times reports. Senior figures are considering sending a spy plane to provide intelligence on ISIS positions, while Royal Air Force aircraft capable of refuelling U.S. fighter jets in mid-air will also be sent. The UK government, which has welcomed American intervention in the fight against ISIS, has also not ruled out conducting its own airstrikes if the humanitarian situation worsens. MPs are also discussing the possibility of using British special forces, who have long experience in the Kurdish region, to offer help in pinpointing targets. Former...

Senator John McCain had harsh words for Great Britain Friday following that country’s decision to not participate in a coordinated attack on Syria. Appearing on NBC’s Tonight Show, McCain said, “I feel badly about the British. They're our dear friends, but they're no longer a world power. It's just a fact of life.”

Defining 'New Labour,' defending the Iraq war, getting to know George W. Bush. It is now painfully obvious that Tony Blair—the man who led Britain for a decade, who transformed the country's dully orthodox Labour Party into dashing, moderate "New Labour," who faced down parliamentary opponents with brio and eloquently defended the invasion of Iraq—is no longer much of a hero in his own country. Indeed, he is intensely disliked, not least for his loyalty to the "freedom agenda"—the idea that, after 9/11, Western democracies had a duty to face down tyrants like Saddam Hussein and end the threat they...

President Obama is holding one of the biggest global summits ever on U.S. soil starting Monday, but for all the hoopla, the event will be missing America’s strongest allies. As remarkable as it is, the fact that neither British Prime Minister Gordon Brown nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are attending President Obama’s nuclear security summit in Washington Monday and Tuesday is not altogether surprising. Relations with both countries — Israel in particular — have grown strained under Obama. Combined with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent defiance of the administration, questions are growing about the president’s ability to maintain important...

New report shows England's growing disillusionment with its once greatest ally. British parliamentarians have finally realized that the "special relationship" between London and Washington no longer exists--if it ever did. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has published an unexpectedly lively report urging British diplomats and ministers to be "less deferential" to the U.S. No more groveling, then. Not that it will stop Prime Minister Gordon Brown from being starry-eyed in the presence of President Obama when he visits the U.S. in a few days' time. The committee, whose members are about to disband before the general election campaign,...

The UK government needs to be "less deferential" towards the US and more willing to say no to Washington, a group of MPs have said. The Commons Foreign Affairs committee also said it was wrong to speak of "the special relationship" with the US, as it was fostering other alliances. However, the MPs did agree that the link between the countries was "profound and valuable". The Foreign Office said the two nations share a "unique" bond. The committee said the phrase "the special relationship" did not reflect the "modern" Anglo-American relationship. It was originally coined more than 60 years ago...

Almost 30 years after losing a war over the Falkland Islands, Argentina is once again warning Britain that it still wants back what it calls the Malvinas. Argentina is now angry over a British company's oil exploration off the windswept islands in what it considers its own South Atlantic backyard. Although nominally democratic, the unpopular Kirchner government in Buenos Aires has claimed that the sparsely settled islands are a symbolic matter of Spanish-speaking pride throughout Latin America — and is theirs because the islands once belonged to Spain in the 19th century. In response to all this, the Obama administration...

British troops will remain in Afghanistan for the next five years, according to the head of the Army. General Sir David Richard expects combat in the country to “trail off in 2011” but said the military would stay to provide training and support for Afghan troops. His comments come as Operation Moshtarak, a major joint offensive against Taliban strongholds, appears to be drawing to an end.

BAGHDAD — Britain says it will withdraw its remaining forces in Iraq to Kuwait, after the Iraqi parliament failed to pass a deal allowing the British troops to stay beyond the end of the month. The deal would have let up to 100 British troop stay in Iraq to protect oil platforms and provide training in the south of the country. The rest of the British forces are withdrawing under a separate agreement. British Embassy spokesman Jawwad Syed said Tuesday it's a procedural delay and that the remaining British forces will pull back to Kuwait until the issue is resolved....

LONDON // Britain should stop trying to be “a mini-United States” and give up maintaining armed forces capable of policing world trouble spots, a report from an influential think tank said yesterday. After a two-year review, the high-powered panel of experts said the UK simply could not afford its international role and recommended slashing £24 billion (Dh146bn) from proposed defence spending.

Britain cannot afford to send more troops to Afghanistan because of the mounting costs of dealing with the recession, military commanders have been told.

STRASBOURG, France – Welcomed with thunderous cheers, President Barack Obama pledged on Friday to repair damaged relations with Europe, saying the world came together following the 2001 terrorist attacks but then "we got sidetracked by Iraq." "We must be honest with ourselves," Obama said. "In recent years, we've allowed our alliance to drift." The new U.S. president said that despite the bitter feelings that were generated by Iraq, the United States and its allies must stand together because "al-Qaida is still a threat." At a town-hall style gathering before a French and German audience, Obama also encouraged a skeptical Europe...

If you feel like I do that Present_ent Obama snubbed our greatest ally, the UK, here is their embassy's contact information: British Embassy, Washington, United States British Embassy 3100 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008 Telephone: (1) (202) 588 6500 Fax: (1) (202) 588 7870 Chancery ...or go to the Feedback link.

<p>Gordon Brown has been given a collection of 25 classic American films on DVD as his official gift from Barack Obama.</p> <p>The Prime Minister flew home from his successful trip to Washington this morning with the "special collector's box" of films hidden in his luggage.</p>

President Bush tonight awarded America’s highest civilian honour to Tony Blair in a ceremony at the White House. The outgoing President said Mr Blair was “a true friend of the United States” before hanging the Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck. The former Prime Minister stood in front of the President as the medal was bestowed upon him. “He will stand tall in history,” President Bush said.

The announcement that Britain is largely to close down its military role in Iraq by May 31, 2009, is welcome news to both this country and Iraq. It represents a most significant achievement after what will have been a very difficult and challenging six years. We should remember that this saga does not start in 2003, but rather in 1990 with Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait – an act of outright international aggression. After the forcible removal of his forces from Kuwait, there followed a decade and more of brutality towards his own people and defiance of at least 16...

Gordon Brown paid tribute to four Royal Marines killed in Afghanistan on a visit to their comrades on the frontline today. The Prime Minister’s surprise visit came the day after the soldiers died in the southern province of Helmand with three killed by a 13-year-old suicide bomber and the fourth in an unrelated attack. He praised the soldier’s work in fighting a “chain of terror” stretching from the mountains of Afghanistan to the streets of Britain after flying into the frontline town of Musa Qala, which was recaptured from the Taliban last year. Mr Brown again expressed his sympathy to...

There was a time not so long ago when an American president’s first instinct when faced with an international crisis was to call up Downing Street to solicit the thoughts of Washington’s closest ally. Within hours of the September 11 attacks in 2001, President George W Bush was on the phone to Tony Blair. Their conversation had a seminal influence on the strategy that led to the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan, which had provided a haven for the attackers. In the spring of 2002, when it seemed that India and Pakistan were on the brink of launching all-out...

Three years ago this month, American freelance journalist Steven Vincent was kidnapped and murdered in Basra, Iraq, a port city then under British military control. His murder occurred as Britain's military -- as Vincent had earlier reported -- was turning a blind eye to the rise of menacing Shiite religious groups, including those of bellicose rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Now, three years later, the ineptitude of British forces in Basra has boiled over into a full-fledged scandal in Britain, as today's Wall Street Journal notes in an editorial, "Basra and the Brits." The scandal concerns the failure of British military...

There were questions surrounding Gordon Brown when he became Great Britain's Prime Minister. Taking office with echoes of "lap dog" following his predecessor Tony Blair, many wondered just how committed Brown would be to the "Special Relationship" between the US and Great Britain and whether he would initiate a more independent course in foreign affairs. Brown may yet eschew supporting the US on many issues. But on increasing sanctions on Iran and sending additional troops to Afghanistan - two things the US devoutly wished Brown would accede to - the British Prime Minister has come through.....