Doug, you don't seem to have addressed Gareth's first point at all. On that specific point, You might be interested to check out how many containers arrive in the US from, say, China, in, say, an hour. However rich America is, and whatever the impoverishment in which it might seek to confine other nations, America will never make itself a safe place to be, simply by force of arms.

Anyway, is it not the case that National Missile Defence would be dependent on UK-based radar input? Blair may be a poodle, and he may have a parliamentary majority of millions, but he still managed to get his government defeated in the House of Commons the other day. So just suppose the UK won't play this particular game with Bush. Can you think of any other friendly nations that might come to his rescue?