From the UK's Daily Mail, top brass force Brown to review £1bn defence cuts:
An emergency review of the country's defences is due to take place following a crisis meeting between the heads of all three armed services and Gordon Brown.
The chiefs are understood to have said that cuts ordered by the Prime Minister threatened to undermine current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the future viability of the forces.
At least two senior officers, believed to be Army generals, have threatened to resign - according to several sources.
The story is a bit old, 3 weeks or so, but still quite relevant. America needs a strong British military to help form the backbone of the alliance against Islamic terrorism. Unfortunately, the ruling Labor Party has steadily slashed defense budgets for the past decade or so, reducing Her Majesty's Armed Forces to what some are calling a glorified gendarmerie.
Even if the British defence chiefs get their way and force Labor into properly financing the military, the situation will remain dire. Increases proposed by the MoD only get the Brits back up to status quo, instead of compensating for years of neglect. As our military objectives are the same, the Labor cuts also negatively affect US campaigns. The traditionally trustworthy British forces no longer have the ability to project power into more than one or two areas of operation, forcing American and fledgling Iraqi or Afghani units to fill the gaps.
Though it's a tough pill to swallow and we'd undoubtably prefer the Brits, perhaps it is time to start looking at Sarkozy's France as our new special defense partner?
