Britain's military is an empty shell They announced RIF’s of thousands beginning this month, their main support would probably be SAS. Cameron is already backing off and is supposedly “consulting” with Blair on what to do. If only Bammy would call in Bush and Cheney for “advice”.
The US navy would have to shoulder the 24/7 load, maybe some USAF assets staging out of Italy. I am sure the 2-carrier statement is based on planning for defense of the carrier group itself, sortie surge rate and mission duration ( how long the frack is it going to take for the identity and agenda of the “opposition freedom fighters” to emerge?), and current and future operational status of the carrier assets. Ours is not a fresh military. constant war and budget cuts surely have taken a toll. Commanders are always pressured to say “yessir can do more with less”, the WH and State Department want a 30 day surge? “Can not do” is not an acceptable answer.
One of those carriers is probably required to replace “Egypt” - which we can no longer rely on to stage our assets and watch our backs.
I agree about the weakness of our western allies also. Since the end of the cold war, they’ve shed so much of their military and poured all of those previous resources into stupid idiotic government social welfare programs. Power abhors a vacuum. When they abdicate their power, someone else, somewhere else will pick up the slack.