Politics, that's what it's all about, imo. The leaders of most countries just don't want to risk their jobs. Tony Blair's an exception, but then he can always switch parties, as he seems to have more support from the Conservatives.

It's certainly not true that everyone has forgotten our help in WWII. During a trip to England in 1994 I was amazed to have found people who even then couldn't thank us/me enough. The proprietor of the B&B in London where we stayed told us, on the day of our journey to Wales, that he had been evacuated to Wales during the war. Takes you back. These folks certainly aren't the ones protesting against current involvement.

France, that's another story. These folks like us for our tourist dollars which have paid for much of Paris' renovations. And we didn't exactly start out fighting for them in Africa.