lily
02-28-2007, 12:00 AM
Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17302110/site/newsweek/?rf=nwnewsletter)
Demolition of the Willing
Europe’s bitter memories of the Bush administration’s insults and hypocrisy
are undermining efforts to restrain Iran’s nuke program—and have now led to
the collapse of Italy’s Prodi government.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek
Updated: 4:33 p.m. ET Feb 23, 2007
Feb. 23, 2007 - Four years ago a million people poured into the streets of
Britain to march against the war they feared was coming in Iraq. I was in
London, and I remember being struck by how decent, sincere and solid the
protesters were. Many had come as families—mom and pop and the kids—just to
stand up and be counted in favor of reason and diplomacy over sophistry, war
and occupation.
Maybe you remember what President George W. Bush had to say about those
folks. It tells you a lot about why the United States has so few friends
left in the world; why its political allies have been weakened, deposed or
defeated and why the public in Europe, especially, is unwilling to believe
almost anything Washington says.
This is from the White House transcript of Bush’s remarks on Feb. 18, 2003,
three days after huge protests in Britain, Spain and Italy—and one month
before the bombing of Baghdad: “First of all, you know, size of protest,
it's like deciding, well, I'm going to decide policy based upon a focus
group,” Bush told reporters.
A focus group. Sure. Why not compare millions of people of good conscience
gathered to exercise their civic duty to handfuls paid for their opinions
about the marketing of new soft drinks or campaign slogans? Why would Bush
or his acolyte, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, listen to a vast sampling
of public concern when the two politicians knew in their hearts they’d
already taken the right decision about launching the war.
The rest of the president’s remarks that day are chilling, not least because
they sound exactly like what his administration is saying now about Iran.
“War is my last choice,” he told reporters. “But the risk of doing nothing
is even a worst [sic] option as far as I'm concerned.”
The backlash brought on by what we’ve seen since then runs so deep today
that even reasonable policies become political poison once they’re branded
pro-American. Thus bitter memories of lies and insults undermine legitimate
efforts to restrain the Iranian nuclear enrichment program. They discredit
efforts to encourage democracy, inevitably branded by dictators as an
American import. They continue to weaken a staunch American friend like
Blair, whose brilliant career has now entered a sad twilight because of his
faithful service as Bush’s “poodle” or, perhaps better said, attack dog.
The latest example of blowback from the Bush administration’s cynical
hypocrisy and bad judgment was the fall of Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s
government in Italy over keeping troops in Afghanistan. You’ll recall that
Prodi’s predecessor, the flamboyant Silvio Berlusconi, was a charter member
of the “coalition of the willing” that trailed into Iraq behind Bush. The
reward reaped by the Italian public for that commitment was casual contempt
by the Bush administration. In 2003, even as antiwar protests were
mobilizing in Rome, the CIA allegedly sent a large team to Milan to kidnap
an Egyptian-born Islamist known as Abu Omar and ship him back to the tender
mercies of the secret police in Cairo. In 2005, U.S. troops in Baghdad
opened fire on a car carrying a major general in Italy's
military-intelligence service, killing him and wounding Giuliana Sgrena, the
journalist he’d just freed from kidnappers. Both cases are now before the
Italian courts, but naturally the Americans have no intention of handing
over the U.S. personnel indicted in absentia.
Prodi’s left-wing coalition won its thin majority nine months ago partly
because of popular resentment against Berlusconi’s pro-American policies.
But Prodi took the statesmanlike position of honoring past commitments:
remaining part of the force in Afghanistan and agreeing to the expansion of
a U.S. military base at Vicenza in northern Italy. (As for Iraq, even
Berlusconi decided last year that it was high time to get out, and did.)
But Prodi soon discovered that statesmanship is hard to sustain when dealing
with the Bush administration. The Italian premier’s fragile coalition
started to come apart over the Afghan deployment. Thousands of protesters
descended on Vicenza. And U.S. Ambassador to Rome Ronald P. Spogli sent an
open letter, signed along with five other envoys, which encouraged Italy to
keep its troops Afghanistan. The missive was read as insulting interference.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema called it “unusual” and said
newspapers were no place for this kind of communication. Defense Minister
Arturo Parisi said its publication was “highly inappropriate.”
“Stupid,” might be a better word. Earlier this week, what should have been a
nonbinding declaration of support for the 2,000 Italian troops in
Afghanistan by the Senate in Rome became a de facto vote of no confidence in
Prodi’s government. And while he may yet be able to make a comeback, the
alliance with the United States will be weaker even than it was before.
All this strikes me as sad, and dangerous. As the Iraq war continues to
worsen and Washington is forced to search ever harder for an exit, it will
need a lot of help from countries it used to rely on as friends. But
governments are concluding that any sign of a warm relationship with Bush’s
Washington is likely to leave them out in the cold with their public. In the
end, their voters—their people—are a focus group that just can't be ignored.
Demolition of the Willing
Europe’s bitter memories of the Bush administration’s insults and hypocrisy
are undermining efforts to restrain Iran’s nuke program—and have now led to
the collapse of Italy’s Prodi government.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek
Updated: 4:33 p.m. ET Feb 23, 2007
Feb. 23, 2007 - Four years ago a million people poured into the streets of
Britain to march against the war they feared was coming in Iraq. I was in
London, and I remember being struck by how decent, sincere and solid the
protesters were. Many had come as families—mom and pop and the kids—just to
stand up and be counted in favor of reason and diplomacy over sophistry, war
and occupation.
Maybe you remember what President George W. Bush had to say about those
folks. It tells you a lot about why the United States has so few friends
left in the world; why its political allies have been weakened, deposed or
defeated and why the public in Europe, especially, is unwilling to believe
almost anything Washington says.
This is from the White House transcript of Bush’s remarks on Feb. 18, 2003,
three days after huge protests in Britain, Spain and Italy—and one month
before the bombing of Baghdad: “First of all, you know, size of protest,
it's like deciding, well, I'm going to decide policy based upon a focus
group,” Bush told reporters.
A focus group. Sure. Why not compare millions of people of good conscience
gathered to exercise their civic duty to handfuls paid for their opinions
about the marketing of new soft drinks or campaign slogans? Why would Bush
or his acolyte, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, listen to a vast sampling
of public concern when the two politicians knew in their hearts they’d
already taken the right decision about launching the war.
The rest of the president’s remarks that day are chilling, not least because
they sound exactly like what his administration is saying now about Iran.
“War is my last choice,” he told reporters. “But the risk of doing nothing
is even a worst [sic] option as far as I'm concerned.”
The backlash brought on by what we’ve seen since then runs so deep today
that even reasonable policies become political poison once they’re branded
pro-American. Thus bitter memories of lies and insults undermine legitimate
efforts to restrain the Iranian nuclear enrichment program. They discredit
efforts to encourage democracy, inevitably branded by dictators as an
American import. They continue to weaken a staunch American friend like
Blair, whose brilliant career has now entered a sad twilight because of his
faithful service as Bush’s “poodle” or, perhaps better said, attack dog.
The latest example of blowback from the Bush administration’s cynical
hypocrisy and bad judgment was the fall of Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s
government in Italy over keeping troops in Afghanistan. You’ll recall that
Prodi’s predecessor, the flamboyant Silvio Berlusconi, was a charter member
of the “coalition of the willing” that trailed into Iraq behind Bush. The
reward reaped by the Italian public for that commitment was casual contempt
by the Bush administration. In 2003, even as antiwar protests were
mobilizing in Rome, the CIA allegedly sent a large team to Milan to kidnap
an Egyptian-born Islamist known as Abu Omar and ship him back to the tender
mercies of the secret police in Cairo. In 2005, U.S. troops in Baghdad
opened fire on a car carrying a major general in Italy's
military-intelligence service, killing him and wounding Giuliana Sgrena, the
journalist he’d just freed from kidnappers. Both cases are now before the
Italian courts, but naturally the Americans have no intention of handing
over the U.S. personnel indicted in absentia.
Prodi’s left-wing coalition won its thin majority nine months ago partly
because of popular resentment against Berlusconi’s pro-American policies.
But Prodi took the statesmanlike position of honoring past commitments:
remaining part of the force in Afghanistan and agreeing to the expansion of
a U.S. military base at Vicenza in northern Italy. (As for Iraq, even
Berlusconi decided last year that it was high time to get out, and did.)
But Prodi soon discovered that statesmanship is hard to sustain when dealing
with the Bush administration. The Italian premier’s fragile coalition
started to come apart over the Afghan deployment. Thousands of protesters
descended on Vicenza. And U.S. Ambassador to Rome Ronald P. Spogli sent an
open letter, signed along with five other envoys, which encouraged Italy to
keep its troops Afghanistan. The missive was read as insulting interference.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema called it “unusual” and said
newspapers were no place for this kind of communication. Defense Minister
Arturo Parisi said its publication was “highly inappropriate.”
“Stupid,” might be a better word. Earlier this week, what should have been a
nonbinding declaration of support for the 2,000 Italian troops in
Afghanistan by the Senate in Rome became a de facto vote of no confidence in
Prodi’s government. And while he may yet be able to make a comeback, the
alliance with the United States will be weaker even than it was before.
All this strikes me as sad, and dangerous. As the Iraq war continues to
worsen and Washington is forced to search ever harder for an exit, it will
need a lot of help from countries it used to rely on as friends. But
governments are concluding that any sign of a warm relationship with Bush’s
Washington is likely to leave them out in the cold with their public. In the
end, their voters—their people—are a focus group that just can't be ignored.