Iraq was for purely political reasons. Contrary to public announcements. Speaker: Bush, George - President Date: 1/24/2002 Quote/Claim: "I have no ambition whatsoever to use [the war on terror or 9/11] as a political issue." [Source: BBC] An internal White House document outlining President Bush's re-election agenda starts with "War on terrorism (Con't)" and homeland security." - AP, 12/29/02 "President Bush's top political adviser said today that Republicans will make the president's handling of the war on terrorism the centerpiece of their strategy to win back the Senate and keep control of the House in this year's midterm elections. 'We can go to the country on this issue because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America,' Karl Rove said at the Republican National Committee meeting." - Washington Post, 1/19/02
Speaker: Bush, George - President Date: 11/6/2003 Quote/Claim: "With the steady leadership of President Karzai, the people of Afghanistan are building a modern and peaceful government." [Source: White House Web site] Fact: "ecurity in large areas of Afghanistan has so deteriorated that U.S. and U.N. officials fear that plans to hold presidential elections in June may be in jeopardy." The security situation threatens to undermine the goals of the 2001 Bonn agreement which placed the U.N. in charge of supervising Afghanistan's transition to a constitutional democracy. - LA Times, 12/3/03 Date: 11/24/2003 Quote/Claim: "Our military went to Afghanistan, destroyed the training camps of al Qaeda, and put the Taliban out of business forever." [Source: White House Web site] Fact: "Nearly two years after the U.S. drove the Taliban from power, remnants of the Islamic extremist group are regrouping and attacking U.S. troops." - LA Times, 11/12/03 Hey Bush said we already won. That's part of the reason we could go to Iraq.
basso...please read again. Chirac is wrong on this and I am not condoning their stance on this. What I am saying is that this should not have been a surprise to anyone. You can only tell someone so many times "screw you if you don't bow to us" before you face some sort of backlash. This is that backlash and it is not surprising to me. I wish it wasn't the case because Afghanistan needs the help. If you want to know about Darfur you should ask the French as I am not from their country and I can't speak for them.
Obviously since this wasn't a success, right now would be one of those times. That's what diplomacy, and leadership is all about. If everyone automatically saw the rationale and reasons to do the right thing nobody would need leaders. Leaders should be able to show people the way, inspire the courage, or attitude necessary to perform those actions, and to win support. Bush has done little to none of these.
In fact, Bush has had the opposite effect of turning the world AWAY from things that we believe should be done by thumbing his nose at the international community at every opportunity until about 2 months ago. It is sad that we have a "leader" who has screwed the pooch so badly on international affairs that we can't even convince France to continue to support the action in Afghanistan, the action that the French supported wholeheartedly from day one (as I did).
this and the blending of faith with political support are the 2 things that frustrate me and disappoint me most with this administration. on 9/11 we had the world on our side. in the days following we saw the changing of the guard in london to the star spangled banner. we saw people with signs all across the world saying, "we're all americans, today." that kind of sentiment was pervasive. and we blew it. it's all gone. i remember our response in afghanistan was careful and measured. it didn't come right away...but when it came it was swift and decisive. i thought that was positive. but in the whole, "we're right, you're wrong" iraq debate we lost our support. and we may have lost whatever moral authority we had, as well. very disappointing.
What the hell do you expect? Rumsfeld said, prior to the invasion of Iraq, "We don't care about 'Old Europe.'" You can't insult other nations and then expect them to follow your lead.
They kind of/sort of withdrew militarily in the late 60's I believe, but they were still technically in it. Another annoying hangover from Charles De Gaulle. Either you guys are in or out.
