Bush welcomes solo role in battle vs. 'evil'




Ahn Young-joon/Associated Press

South Koreans, angered by Bush's "axis of evil" speech, rally Saturday in Seoul, where Bush is to arrive Tuesday.

By David E. Sanger
New York Times
Feb. 17, 2002


WASHINGTON - As a glaring rift emerges between the White House and America's allies over how to pursue the next phase of the war on terrorism, something odd has happened: President Bush and his top aides now seem to welcome, even to egg on, the sharp differences prompted by Bush's determination to expand his battle against what he calls "evil" regimes.


In private, his friends and closest aides report, Bush fumes about weak-kneed "European elites" and scared Arab leaders who, in his view, lack the courage to stand up to states that may one day provide terrorists with nuclear or biological weapons.

On Saturday, Bush departed for Asia saying that the goal of his trip is to strengthen his anti-terrorism coalition. But it was telling that even before Air Force One departed, the South Korean press was filled with denunciations of his inclusion of North Korea as part of an "axis of evil," protesting that Bush was undercutting years of diplomacy aimed at luring the Stalinist North out of its frightfully armed shell with economic incentives.

In China, where Bush is making a delayed state visit, the country's leadership has warned in the past few weeks of "serious consequences" if the president takes military action against Iraq. Beijing has voiced worries about a re-emergence of American unilateralism, which it thought had faded in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

But in the past two weeks, Bush's strident tone has suggested just the opposite. In appearances across the country, he has built on the "axis of evil" phraseology of his State of the Union address, knowing full well that each repetition irritates and divides the countries he once hailed as his great coalition partners.

His national security aides, who are usually more attuned to how Bush's words play in Poland or Peru than in Peoria, have begun to cite evidence that Americans are behind the broader mission of rooting out rogue states seeking weapons of mass destruction, even if the allies are not.

They compare Bush's mission to Ronald Reagan's single-minded goal of ridding the world of Communism. They describe Bush as emerging from the war's first phase more convinced than ever that the United States alone has the power to complete its task, with or without the coalition.

When America's allies have begged to differ in recent days, they have found themselves engaged in public bickering with even the most diplomatic members of Bush's war council.

It started when French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine dismissed Bush's approach to Iran, Iraq and North Korea as "simplistic," and Secretary of State Colin Powell shot back that his French colleague was "getting the vapors."

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said last week that the Bush administration was treating coalition partners like "satellites," a term clearly meant as a comparison to the old Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc.

Even Canada, America's closest ally save for Britain, warned that any effort by the United States to act unilaterally in the next phase of the war "will go nowhere."

GW deliberately antagonizing Europeans, Muslims?

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A interesting hypothesis, and quite refreshing if true.

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We better watch out, it's the much feared [b](((CANADIAN WARNING)))[/b]


Canada warns  "will go nowhere" What the hell kind of WARNING is that? That is the most ridiculously stupid and laughable warning in the history of politics!


"Even Canada, America's closest ally save for Britain, warned that any effort by the United States to act unilaterally in the next phase of the war "will go nowhere."

In private, his friends and closest aides report, Bush fumes about weak-kneed "European elites

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Since America spends more on their military than the next 15 nations combined, we are in perfect shape to go it alone.

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shooter69
It's the warning from a so called friend and neighbor thats disgusting, not if they were there.

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Guess who was responsible for aprehending the most difficult to catch suspects of warcrimes in former Yugo. Hint, it wasn't any of the US special ops personell. Ask the Marines in LeJeune how 2000's joint excercise with Royal Netherlands Marines went, especially an ambush excercise in which the USMC was numerically superiour but yet got waxed by three fireteams of RNLMC.

Your President ought to try to explain weak-kneed to the SAS, GIGN,  Dutch BBE, British RMC, GSG9, Dutch SF etc etc.....now if he means the europolitical elite...I concur about the weakkneed bit.