Posted on 06/22/2006 1:59:22 AM PDT by familyop
President George W Bush told Europeans yesterday it was "absurd" to regard the United States as the greatest threat to world peace, as he concluded an EU-US summit overshadowed by disputes on Guantanamo Bay and trans-Atlantic trade barriers.
A visibly annoyed Mr Bush was responding to a journalist's question about opinion polls, asking why most Europeans believe the United States is a greater menace than Iran or North Korea.
"It's absurd, is my statement," Mr Bush snapped, taking the microphone ahead of the president of the European Commission in his haste to answer the question. "We'll defend ourselves, but we are working with our partners to spread peace and democracy around the world."
Even before Mr Bush landed for the one-day meeting in Vienna, his host, the Austrian chancellor, Wolfgang Schuessel, had made clear he would be demanding the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, in the name of the European Union.
As Mr Bush arrived for the annual summit, held this year in the baroque Hofburg palace, scattered protesters burned an American flag and chanted "go home Bush".
Once inside the meeting, however, Mr Bush took the initiative, and spoke of his desire to close Guantanamo Bay, diplomats said. Mr Bush said the US was keen to send all but the most dangerous detainees back to their home countries.
But he pointedly reminded his European hosts that the majority of the detainees still in the camp were from countries like Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Afghanistan.
The Bush administration has previously faced sharp criticism and opposition from Europe for proposing to send terrorist suspects to such nations, where they may face torture or the death penalty. Speaking at the press conference after the summit, Mr Bush said: "I'd like to end Guantanamo, I'd like it to be over with. One of those things that we will do is that we will send people back to their home countries."
Two hundred detainees had been sent back, and some 400 remained, he went on, mostly from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Yemen. "I explained our desire to send them back. Of course, there is international pressure not to send them back. I hope we will be able to resolve that," he said. The US president repeated his insistence that some of those in the camp were "cold-blooded killers", who had to be tried in US courts, and who would murder again if let out on the streets.
Mr Bush was starting the summit when he and his European hosts learned of a statement from the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declaring it would be mid-August before his country responded to a European offer of incentives to suspend suspicious nuclear enrichment activities.
Asked if the United States would come to the table for provisional talks, while waiting for a final Iranian verdict, Mr Bush replied: "Our position is, we'll come to the table when they verifiably suspend. Period."
The US president said that two months "seems like an awfully long time" to wait for an answer to the European offer, presented in early June. "It shouldn't take the Iranians that long to analyse what's a reasonable deal."
Mr Bush also offered a warning to North Korea that it faced further isolation if it carried through on hints that it was about to test-fire a long range missile, capable of hitting Alaska.
Mr Bush was tackled a second time on the collapse in European public support for his administration by a Viennese journalist who reeled off statistics, including the fact that three quarters of Austrians regard the United States as a grave threat.
It was absurd to think America more dangerous than Iran, he repeated. "We are a transparent democracy, we debate things in the open," he said.
Citing record US funding for Aids victims in Africa, Mr Bush said his foreign policy was "tough when it has to be, but on the other hand it's compassionate".
On trade barriers, the two sides appeared to have made little progress, with only weeks to go until a crucial meeting to agree market opening measures aimed at helping the developing world.
A formal joint statement said only that the EU and the United States were committed to "reaching an ambitious conclusion" to the current round of talks, which have already missed crucial deadlines and are far behind schedule. It offered no specifics.
...agreed on media and polls, and thanks for the complement to all who support western civilization. Yes, we did pounce on the use of "furious" in the title. It's a tabloid-ish description that is a little humorous for us (in the USA).
I also posted one from the French EuroNews and added a comment that is all in fun (but from a bit of truth about what we call bureaucracy).
The United States and the European Union are united in agreement on the subject [of Iran.]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1653547/posts
Hey, wait. I thought we were doing the torture?
No?
The left is spinning so hard I am dizzy.
My first thought as well.
Where's the fury?
(And by the way, where's Clara Peller?)
This world is so crazy that, yes, you read it right and that's really what it meant. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with these people if the tender-hearted left doesn't even want them going back to their home countries. Personally, I don't think they should be tried in US courts - if they get a trial at all, it should be before a military tribunal. Followed by execution. But that ain't gonna happen, I'm afraid.
I would like to see Pres. Bush appear strong and prideful about U.S. involvement in world affairs, not just smile nicely and appear 'friendly' to the world audience. It's time to start putting some of these bozos in their place.Quit being Mr. nice guy 'cause most of them don't like him anyway.
Bush is always on the defensive. He never goes on the attack. Of course the claim that the US is a bigger threat than Korea or Iran is absurd. And he's right to say that. But he's wrong not to point a finger at the left and say: this is the work of the leftist in America, the leftists in Europe and leftists all over the world. The Left hates America because the Left hates freedom. Until he says that, he'll continue to be playing defense.
You mentioned "loaded polls." I found the source of the poll and posted an article about it. The same organization (scorched earth leftists in the USA) has also published such reports in the past in its bandwagon approach to turn more Europeans against the USA.
Survey: U.S. Troops More Dangerous Than Iran [Anti-American poll alert.]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1653561/posts
Hey, we're pretty much on the same page and only 1 second apart. Weird.
"I would like to see Pres. Bush appear strong and prideful about U.S. involvement in world affairs, not just smile nicely and appear 'friendly' to the world audience. It's time to start putting some of these bozos in their place.Quit being Mr. nice guy 'cause most of them don't like him anyway."
Well said.
Plus i really hated it when he didn't publicly B-slap Hugo Chavez last year when he had the chance.
I know it's a pipe dream, but it would have been sweet.
I would like to have heard him remind the euroshiites that we bailed their a$$ out twice.
Let's close Club Gitmo and send all the current vacationers to EU. I'm sure they would love to have more terrorists to give welfare to.
More specific; European leftists are VERY stupid. The right is marginalized, and might even start to come back. But will it be too late?
I agree. The left has been allowed to get away without being named, which has made it appear to be normative - that is, it looks like everybody in their right mind in normal society is a leftist, and it's only us non-leftists who are crazy. Identifying the left as a separate force that has leaders and can be identified makes it clear that leftist thought is not normative and is something that can and should be opposed. Because the press and media keep up such a leftist drum-beat, it sounds as if there are more of them than there really are, but they are actually a minority - a vicious, powerful one, but a minority nonetheless.
My boss went to England in April (business/pleasure trip). I asked how she enjoyed her trip. Her answer was "Never, never, never, never again. I hate the British people!" As more and more Americans come home from Europe after bad experiences they are going to stop going. I wouldn't walk across the street to visit people who hate me, why would I cross an ocean? The only view most of us get of Europe is the never ending criticisms and disdain. It's taking a toll. Sad.
Sorry about that; wasn't London was it?
Since huge amounts of the world's current ills evolved out of colonial policies and practices of the european powers, they are fine ones to blame us, who are mostly cleaning up their messes...Africa is screwy because of the colonial boundaries for the modern African nations, and a lot of the middle eastern instability is a result of European colonialism and the fall of the Ottoman empire.
And they are blaming us? They made the trash heap.
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