Posted on 10/16/2004 2:44:09 PM PDT by I_saw_the_light
x-Security Adviser Rips Bush Diplomacy
U.S. National - AP
WASHINGTON - The national security adviser under the first President Bush says the current president acted contemptuously toward NATO and Europe after Sept. 11 and is trying to cooperate now out of desperation to "rescue a failing venture" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Brent Scowcroft, a mentor to the current national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), also said in an interview published in England that Bush is inordinately influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"Sharon just has him wrapped around his little finger," Scowcroft told London's Financial Times. "I think the president is mesmerized."
Scowcroft said the Bush administration's "unilateralist" position was partly responsible for the post-Sept. 11, 2001, decline of the trans-Atlantic relationship.
"It's in general bad," he said. "It's not really hostile, but there's an edge to it."
Early on, he said, "We had gotten contemptuous of Europeans and their weaknesses. We had really turned unilateral."
Although slightly diminished since then, the unilateralist policies remain fundamentally little changed, Scowcroft said. Recent overtures to cooperate in Afghanistan and Iraq with the United Nations and NATO were "as much an act of desperation as anything else ... to rescue a failing venture."
On Israel and Sharon, the former security adviser said Sharon calls Bush after strongly retaliating for a Palestinian suicide attack and says: "`I'm on the front line of terrorism,' and the president says, `Yes, you are.'"
Scowcroft said Sharon "has been nothing but trouble
Don't forget, Scowcroft was the a-hole Bush 41 sent to China and proceeded to give champaign toasts to the butchers of Bejing.
Isn't Scowcroft involved with a large Arab group?
Exactly.
Scowcroft built his entire career, his life, around Balance of Powers diplomacy. He worked to keep NATO, SEATO and the rest of our military alliances strong and balanced against The Soviet Union, The Warsaw Pact and Red China.
When communism fell, he quite literally lost his mind.
Our winning made his expertise, his connections, his life irrelevant.
How different is Condi Rice, who promptly retooled from Soviet Expert to all 'round National Security Maven.
So9
He had an ax to grind for the way he dismissed the POW/MIA of Viet Nam issue.
Papa Bush, McCain, and Kerry were all in on the idea of normalizing VN relations with the US.
There is much more to this story than meets the eye.
Nah...you've suffered enough - I hope!
Well, unfortunately, we all suffered.
8 years of the klintoons. thanks
Yea, that was my fault. Did you read the posts on this thread?
Not 48 till now. I am commanded to forgive yet it is hard.
Here's a bump to something interesting- Scowcroft was on one of Kofi Annan's panels.
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