ALLIANCE THREATENED – AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  One of the many things that Barack Obama has mishandled has been our critical alliance with Britain.  Now the chickens, or the bulldogs, are coming home to roost, as London's Telegraph reports:

David Cameron’s push for an early British withdrawal from Afghanistan has caused alarm in the US, raising fears for the Special Relationship.

Senior American military figures have warned Britain that a hasty exit from Afghanistan could strain relations between the two countries.

The Daily Telegraph last week revealed that David Cameron has ordered British commanders to draw up plans to start pulling hundreds of British troops out of Afghanistan within weeks.

The Prime Minister is expected to discuss a co-ordinated Afghan withdrawal in London next week.

The prospect of an imminent British withdrawal is understood to have alarmed American generals, who are trying to resist political pressure for a major reduction in US troop numbers.

Well-placed sources said that US generals have delivered a blunt warning to their British counterparts about the impact of an early UK withdrawal.

COMMENT:  The British withdrawal is disappointing.  We expected better of Cameron, who has shown real gutsiness in the Mideast, far more so than Obama has shown.

However, we must ask this question:  Why should the Brits stick their necks out when Obama himself is promising large American withdrawals?  The Osama bin Laden raid was a one-shot, and its glow is already fading.  What is left is an uncertain, unenthusiastic American policy toward Afghanistan, informed at least in part by Obama's need to show his left-wing base what he has done to "end the war," no matter how poorly it ends.

And Obama's attitude toward Britain has been at best aloof, starting with his gratuitious return to the British of a bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office. 

Our enemies study these alliances.  They must be delighted.

May 17, 2011