Who actually invited Bush to Britain?

Guardian ^ | 11/12/03 | Jonathan Freedland

[Spruce]

This article Drips Venom

[Burkeman1]

Yes- It drips Venom- But it is also the truth. There will be no "victory" parade for Bush through the streets of London to the pallace. There will be no public speeches.

To the lame or terminally idiotic on this site- Bush is a Pariah in Europe and even in Great Britain.

That is how he is percieved by our fellow Westerners in Europe!

[Archangelsk]

Yes it does, but I have the same quesy feeling I got when Bush 41 beat a retreat during a speech in Panama.

[pepsionice]

I had a Brit actually refer to GW as the 'anti-Clinton' (like the anti-Christ)...thats how bad this whole thing has gotten. When GW does finally leave office...The vast majority of these dimwits will say that it was a breath of fresh air to get rid of him. The whole mental direction of Europeans is headed off to some never-never land.

[beaversmom]

The limey leftist bastard that wrote this needs to blow it out his arse. He's projecting his own feelings and quotations onto Tony Blair who is probably feeling and saying no such thing. Tony Blair did the right thing with Iraq despite it being unpopular with some in England. He did what he knew to be right even if it would cost him-- unlike our own President's predecessor who always took the easy, politically expedient way out. Tony Blair is not embarrassed to be an ally of the United States and he's not embarrassed to stand shoulder to shoulder with President Bush. I know Blair is a liberal and I would vote for the conservative if I lived in England, but at least he is a liberal with a conscience, and morals, and thinks about what is best for his country and the world first rather than his own political rear end.

[Let's Roll]

I may be lame and/or terminally idiotic but I see NO need for GWB to go to the UK just as I see no need to spend my vacation dollars there.

Dubya isn't always right - steel tariffs and the EMK Education Bill to name a couple of decisions he should have slept on again. This sounds like another one.

[Burkeman1]

Never Never land? Like the one that says we can make Iraq a Democracy? Actually the French and Germans are quite sane while our President is influenced by insane men. I hope this thing in Iraq goes well- but I don't think it will. Just my dumb opinion.

[Shermy]

Actually the French and Germans are quite sane

Because they act in their economic interests without mitigation?

[Burkeman1]

Yes.

[Spruce]

I just can not digest an article which contains the following:

One Republican source, close to the White House, has a theory as to why the Queen is such an important catch for the image makers. "Look, Americans don't know shit. They're not going to recognise the prime minister of the Philippines. The only foreign leaders they could pick out are the Queen of England and the Pope - and we've already got those pictures." With the Pontiff in the can, the Queen is the co-star the president needs.

Paragraphs like that do not endeer me to the author.

[squidly]

The Europeans haven't hated a U.S. President this much since Reagan. What does that tell you?

[Shermy]

Well I don't like the way they lie about it so much, and pretend otherwise.

And the 2003 Iraq "war" was in our economic interest...how many more decades of no fly zones and Kurdish protectorates to prevent their genocide?

[Burkeman1]

I would say you are just in rejecting that article as it is trash.

[Shermy]

The Europeans haven't hated a U.S. President this much since Reagan. What does that tell you?

They need an external hate object to mollify their internal fears of the EU integration project.

[dufekin]

We are NOT isolated. We have our allies. The Democrats don't seem to understand it, but France and Germany are "friendly," but NOT our primary allies. In this fight, we need allies near the action.

Our allies are Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Israel, Australia. These, in addition to forging closer ties with India, Kenya, Russia, several African countries, Greece, Turkey, several Muslim-majority countries, and most of all our ally the Philippines, are the friends we need to win this fight. Our president has cultivated these allies and works closely with them.

Our allies must have the same interests and goals as us. They must also suffer when we lose and benefit when we win. Such it was in the Cold War, and such it is today. The allies we need are different, because our enemy is different. Hey, Democrats, it's not that hard to understand. And restricting the group of "allies" to European nations might cause legitimate cries of "racism."

This doesn't mean that we're not on friendly terms with our old Cold War allies (which, in any case, don't include France, which ditched our alliance in a series of surrender attempts that we blocked). France is not an ally, and hasn't been an ally in several generations. Why are the Democrats so clueless on foreign affairs? Or am I the moron here?

[BlueNgold]

OK, OK, Reagan was wrong, we should have INVITED the communists to set up shop across the globe and we should never stand up for freedom .. silly Americans!
[/sarcasm]

[Burkeman1]

Our economic intterest? The no fly zones cost us a fraction of the invasion and the occupation. Are you serious?

PS- too drunk off my ass to reply to anyone tonight.

[tsmith130]

That's apparent.

[KC_Conspirator]

"Look, Americans don't know shit. They're not going to recognise the prime minister of the Philippines. The only foreign leaders they could pick out are the Queen of England and the Pope - and we've already got those pictures."

I have a hard time believing this tripe. Its more anti-semite, leftwing Eurotrash that I have seen for years now. These are the same people who think Bush is a bigger threat than Saddam, Al Queda, and North Korea. Not very credible.

The problem is not us, its them.

Plus we write the history because we have truth on our side.