The United Kingdom owes the United States over $4.5 billion in repayments stretching back to the First and Second World Wars.
Unionist peer Lord Laird today received a parliamentary answer indicating that $4,368 billion is still owed from the First World War and payments of $142 million in December 2005 and $83 million in December 2006 are due in respect of aid provided following the Second World War.
The United States has not written off these debts despite cancelling the debt owed by Germany.
Lord Laird said: "We are expected to stand firm against the enemies of the USA and send troops on two occasions to the Gulf. As far as I know we did not charge George W. Bush anything for our help.
At a time when there is talk of international debt relief we are still paying money to the States. . . . I fear what would happen if Washington called in the First World War debt as well."
Lord Laird said $4,368 billion was due in respect of the massive debt built up during and after the Great War.
European countries endebted as a consequence of the prosecution and aftermath of the Great War have repayed little or nothing of the debt, though it has not been officially written off.
However, money is still being repaid following the Second World War, when US Secretary of State, Mr George C Marshall convinced president Harry Truman that $13.3 billion should be loaned to war-affected countries in Western Europe for the reconstruction of their economies.
Although the plan was aimed at relieving chronic poverty, reviving economies and stimulating stronger trading links, it was also intended to combat the "Communist threat" that loomed after the Soviet Union-sponsored coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948.