A relationship on the wane?

A typically insightful piece by Rachel Sylvester today; this time on the Obama administration’s precarious commitment to the “special relationship”.  The key revelation is about a report doing the rounds among British defence and diplomatic officials:

“Perhaps most important of all, the military alliance between Britain and America – which has cemented the political alliance since the First World War – is beginning to crack. I am told that a report circulating at the highest level in the Ministry of Defence concludes that there are now serious doubts in Washington about the effectiveness of the British Armed Forces. Senior military figures are said to have been surprised, and shocked, by feedback that arrived in Whitehall last month. Described as ‘highly sensitive’, it raised questions about the worth of the UK contribution to US-led operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. ‘It showed that the Americans don’t value us much,’ one source told me.