FRANCE PLUGS THE GAP -- Why are four French Mirage 2000 fighter planes currently deployed at the former U.S. air base at Keflavik, Iceland? Answer: The French are plugging a gap in NATO's North Atlantic defenses left by the U.S. withdrawal from Iceland in 2006. The Keflavik base controlled the so-called Iceland Air Policing Area designed to turn back Soviet long-range strategic bombers headed for U.S. airspace. Two years ago, the Pentagon closed the huge facility after almost 50 years because, in Washington's view, it had become a relic of the Cold War.
Moscow was quick to spot the hole, and very soon it was just like old times, with Russian long range patrols regularly trespassing into Iceland air space -- only now there were no American planes to shoo them away. In July 2007, NATO member Iceland, which has no armed forces, appealed to the Atlantic Alliance for protection. With a full-scale U.S. return too embarrassing to even contemplate, five NATO countries were nudged by Washington into taking turns deploying planes to discourage the Russians. France agreed to go first, to be followed in succession by Spain, Denmark, Poland -- and, yes, the United States. ...
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