Yesterday while Blair was announcing British troop withdrawal from Iraq a bronze statue of Margaret Thatcher was being unveiled in the lobby of the same House of Commons. The big mystery to me is why Blair behaved like Bush's poodle all these years. People who get to be Prime Ministers must have a tremendous hunger for power to sit through years of boring speeches, shake sweaty hands and confer with people with halitosis. Why would Britain be a catamite in a one way sado-masochistic special relationship? Could it be because of the Falklands? Twenty years ago Thatcher was deeply unpopular and would surely have lost the next election. Then the Argentinians attacked Falklands. British trroops were loaded into ferries and cruise ships, sitting ducks in the water, and sent to fight. The Argentine navy dared not leave the port because the Americans were monitoring their movement by satelite and might hve quietly threatened them. Britain won and in the succeeding jingoism Thatcher called and early election and went on to become the Iron Lady. Why did America help Britain against a country in their own backyard? This inspite of Secretary of State, Al Haig calling the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington a 'duplicitous bastard'. What did Thatcher promise in return? After all America did not help the British during the Suez crisis when the prize was huge and it was an impoverished Arab country ruled by Nasser, an avowed Soviet ally. Did Ronald Reagan, everybody's favouite uncle make her sign away the sovereignty of Britain? What a delicious irony.