British Mass Perceptions of the Anglo-American Special Relationship

Abstract

Immediately after World War II one of the most popular songs was entitled, Seems Like Old Times. Nearly a half century later that title well characterized Anglo-American relations, which appeared to have returned to that earlier era. Despite the breadth of the coalition that the United States built to oppose Iraq, the chief U.S. acolyte was Britain. The French sent a tough, highly trained force, but their contribution was much smaller than Britain's and had initially seemed more hesitant. The Italian contribution was even smaller than the French. The Germans, preoccupied with reunification, hid behind constitutional niceties and just sent money, as did Japan. Once again the Anglo-Saxons, as Charles de Gaulle liked to call them, found that in a crisis they could count only on each other for whole-hearted, ungrudging support. Clearly, relations between Britain and the United States long have appeared to be special (in de Gaulle's view sinister); they differ in some intrinsic fashion from those that have existed between other pairs of friendly countries.