Just thinking out loud really but I was fairly involved in NI for a few years and this argument was trotted out many times about that place. I did indeed wonder what we were doing there but the result was the best trained army in urban warfare, perhaps. This was, I was reliably informed, going to be the war of the future - population control after major conflict. If you reckon that our future conflicts will be against chaps from sandy places looking for virgins, then our forces are getting the experience they need.
Nice theory but our forces are getting so thin that it won't be much use. They might be good but they won't be big enough to make a real difference if its us on our own.