Re: NYTimes.com Article: U.S. Set to Demand That Allies Agree Iraq Is De

While I can understand the discontent of Rumsfeld and
friends, I wish he would have taken "Diplomacy 101". 
The US can certainly attack Iraq without an
international ally.  However, it also has to cope with
the political consequences of increased
anti-Americanism around the world and especially
Europe.  This again will prove counterproductive in
the fight against terrorism.  The Bush administration
has a long way to go until it understand that the war
against terrorism cannot be won by military means
alone.  Before it learns this lessson (I doubt it that
it ever will), it should use a more diplomatic
approach discussing its policies with its allies.


--- threehegemons@aol.com schrieb: > This article from
NYTimes.com 
> has been sent to you by threehegemons@aol.com.
> 
> 
> Is it just me, or does that verb 'demand' not make
> any sense whatsoever?  How exactly do you 'demand'
> someone agree with you?  The US sounds more than
> ever like the proverbial insane/abusive boyfriend.
> 
> Steven Sherman
> 
> threehegemons@aol.com
> 
> 
> U.S. Set to Demand That Allies Agree Iraq Is Defying
> U.N.
> 
> January 23, 2003
> By STEVEN R. WEISMAN 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 - Bush administration officials
> said
> today that next week they would confront France,
> Germany
> and other skeptics of military action against Iraq
> by
> requiring them to agree publicly that Iraq had
> defied the
> United Nations Security Council. 
> 
> The officials, expressing exasperation with the
> refusal of
> longtime allies to back the United States, said they
> were
> vigorously debating whether to seek a second United
> Nations
> resolution authorizing force against Iraq. At the
> least,
> they said, they will demand that the nations opposed
> to the
> American position acknowledge that Iraq has not
> complied
> with resolutions on its weapons of mass destruction.
> 
> 
> Administration officials said their strategy was
> based on
> the belief that there might never be a "smoking gun"
> proving Iraq's possession of illegal weapons.
> Accordingly,
> they acknowledged that the case must be made in a
> negative
> fashion: that Iraq has failed to disprove the
> contentions
> of the United States and others about its weapons of
> mass
> destruction. The administration asserts, though
> without
> offering evidence, that Iraq has thwarted inspectors
> by
> hiding the weapons. 
> 
> Confronted today by recent polls indicating that
> Americans
> are having second thoughts about a war, President
> Bush
> condemned the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. 
> 
> Labeling him "a dangerous, dangerous man with
> dangerous,
> dangerous weapons," the president said in St. Louis
> that
> "if Saddam Hussein will not disarm, the United
> States of
> America and friends of freedom will disarm Saddam
> Hussein."
> 
> 
> The Pentagon, meanwhile, announced that more than
> 20,000
> members of the National Guard and Reserve had
> reported for
> active duty this week. The activations brought to
> nearly
> 79,000 the number of National Guard members and
> Reservists
> called to active duty for possible service in the
> Persian
> Gulf or in the United States. A total American
> military
> force of 150,000 is expected in the region by
> mid-February.
> 
> 
> Some administration officials expressed the belief
> that
> France and other reluctant allies, accepting
> American
> military action as inevitable, would be won over in
> the end
> - perhaps out of concern that their businesses might
> lose
> any role in exploiting Iraq's oil. Others said the
> French
> might ease their resistance if the United States
> allowed
> the inspectors a few more weeks. 
> 
> But some were skeptical of these arguments, saying
> that the
> French ought to be taken at their word, and that Mr.
> Bush
> should not bother to seek a second resolution
> condemning
> Iraq and authorizing the use of force. 
> 
> In another sign of their irritation with American
> allies,
> aides to Mr. Bush said they were intensifying
> efforts to
> line up support elsewhere in Europe and would try to
> portray France and Germany as holdouts against a
> quick
> Security Council indictment of Iraq. Officials said
> today
> that support was forthcoming not only from Britain
> but also
> from Poland, Spain, Italy and others. 
> 
> If anything, Americans officials said, the recent
> French
> and German appeal for American patience has
> backfired -
> emboldening the hawks in the administration and even
> spurring Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to tell
> aides
> that he would accept military action against Iraq
> without
> approval from the Security Council. 
> 
> Mr. Powell has resisted that position for months.
> Sounding
> tougher today than he has, he said on the PBS
> program "The
> NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" that the question was
> whether to
> allow Iraq "a few more weeks, a few more months" to
> comply
> when it was clear already that it would never do so.
> 
> 
> "Frankly," he added, "there are some nations in the
> world
> who would like simply to turn away from this
> problem,
> pretend it isn't there." 
> 
> Mr. Powell's comments appeared to be a direct
> rebuttal of
> the call for a delay of two or three months by the
> French
> foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, with whom
> he has
> talked frequently - some said tensely - since the
> weekend. 
> 
> Going further, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
> dismissed the German and French roles in a newly
> expanded
> NATO, which has been asked to provide indirect
> assistance
> for an Iraqi invasion. 
> 
> "You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France,"
> Mr.
> Rumsfeld told foreign journalists at the State
> Department,
> as leaders of the two countries today solemnly
> celebrated
> the 40th anniversary of their treaty of friendship
> in
> Versailles, France. "I don't. I think that's old
> Europe."
> He added: "You look at vast numbers of other
> countries in
> Europe. They're not with France and Germany on this.
> They're with the United States." 
> 
> In Paris, President Jacques Chirac of France and
> Chancellor
> Gerhard Schröder of Germany, proclaimed their unity
> on the
> matter. 
> 
> "We both want a peaceful solution to the crisis in
> Iraq,
> 
=== message truncated === 

=====
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