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BUSH, IN LONDON, DEFENDS THE USE OF FORCE AGAINST ‘EVIL’ Richard W. Stevenson. International Herald Tribune. Paris: Nov 20, 2003. pg. 1 Summary George W. Bush never ventured more than a mile or two from Buckingham Palace as concerns about the protesters and terrorist attacks restricted his schedule. The White House canceled a plan for Bush to lay a wreath across from the U.S. Embassy because of security concerns. In his speech, Bush barely touched on the rationale he cited most often in leading the United States into war with Iraq, his assertion that Saddam Hussein possessed banned weapons. No substantial caches of banned weapons have been found, leaving both Bush and Tony Blair, his closest ally in confronting Iraq, vulnerable to criticism that they exaggerated the risk posed by Saddam Hussein. Bush got his first taste of the protests during the welcoming ceremony at Buckingham Palace. As the president moved down a receiving line with the Queen in the palace's forecourt, a British protester with a bullhorn started singing, to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It, a ditty mocking what Blair's critics say is his subservience to Bush: If you think Blair is a poodle, shout woof woof. This article is relevant because it shows how out “allies” feel about the war and Bush and Blair’s relationship. It also demonstrates how much Bush has to defend his actions and how much that is not working. Article President George W. Bush exhorted Britain on Wednesday to stand with the United States in rallying European governments and the United Nations behind a long term campaign to defeat terrorism and bring democracy to the Islamic countries of the Middle East. On the first full day of his state visit to Britain, Bush sought to justify his decision to go to war with Iraq and prepare the world for the possibility that the United States might one day again feel it necessary to use force to combat what he called evil in plain sight. His remarks focused heavily on seeing through the job of stabilizing Iraq, but he also applied what he termed his forward strategy of freedom to the Arab-Israeli conflict, an issue on which Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has been urging the United States to take a more active role. Without naming names, but clearly addressing his remarks to France and Germany, Bush called on European leaders to do more to fight anti-Semitism and push Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, from power. Leaders in Europe should withdraw all favor and support from any Palestinian ruler who fails his people and betrays their cause, Bush said in a thinly veiled reference to Arafat. And Europe's leaders, and all leaders, should strongly oppose anti-Semitism, which poisons public debates over the future of the Middle East. Bush also called on Israel to do more in the name of peace, urging in particular that Israel not prejudice final negotiations through the construction of walls and fences separating Israelis and Palestinians. Israel has been building a long barrier, some of it running through disputed territory, in what it says is an effort to make it harder for terrorists to enter the country and what some Palestinians say is a land grab. Speaking to an invited audience in Whitehall Palace after participating in an elaborate formal welcome ceremony at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II and Blair, Bush was relaxed, funny about the negative reception he has gotten from many people in Britain and passionate about what he called the alliance of conviction and might between the United States and Britain. We have great objectives before us that make our Atlantic alliance as vital as it has ever been, Bush said. We will encourage the strength and effectiveness of international institutions. We will use force when necessary in the defense of freedom. And we will raise up an ideal of democracy in every part of the world. Bush later attended a state dinner at Buckingham Palace as protesters streamed into central London for what is expected to be a massive antiwar demonstration on Thursday. By late Wednesday, hundreds of people waving placards were outside the palace, where the president is staying during his four-day visit, as hundreds of police officers, backed in the shadows by the U.S. Secret Service, kept a wary eye on them. Bush never ventured more than a mile or two from Buckingham Palace as concerns about the protesters and terrorist attacks restricted his schedule. The White House canceled a plan for Bush to lay a wreath across from the U.S. Embassy because of security concerns. In his speech, Bush barely touched on the rationale he cited most often in leading the United States into war with Iraq, his assertion that Saddam Hussein possessed banned weapons. No substantial caches of banned weapons have been found, leaving both Bush and Blair, his closest ally in confronting Iraq, vulnerable to criticism that they exaggerated the risk posed by Saddam Hussein. Instead, Bush offered a broader rationale for the war, casting it as part of an effort to root out the forces breeding terrorism within Islamic states and reshape the Middle East into a region of freedom, peace and prosperity. The evil is in plain sight, Bush said, drawing a parallel to the years between the first and second world wars. The danger only increases with denial. Great responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies. Bush said he believed in the United Nations. But he said that the United Nations and other international institutions were only viable as long as they were effective in enforcing collective security. America and Great Britain have done, and will do, all in their power to prevent the United Nations from solemnly choosing its own irrelevance and inviting the fate of the League of Nations, he said. Directly addressing the criticism that he proved too quick to choose war over diplomacy, Bush said that military force would remain on the table as the United States confronted the job of eliminating the threat of terrorism. There are principled objections to the use of force in every generation, and I credit the good motives behind these views, Bush said. Those in authority, however, are not judged only by good motivations. The people have given us the duty to defend them. And that duty sometimes requires the violent restraint of violent men. In some cases, the use of force is all that protects us from a chaotic world ruled by force. Bush was largely unyielding in the face of criticism that he has brought a too simplistic, too moral, too religious tone to American foreign policy, and defended each of those traits as derived from a long British-American tradition. Bush also joked that the last notable American to visit London had spent 44 days in a glass box over the Thames, a reference to David Blaine, who performed the stunt this autumn. A few might have been happy to provide similar arrangements for me, Bush said. Alluding to the protests, Bush said, I've been here only a short time, but I've noticed that the tradition of free speech exercised with enthusiasm is alive and well here in London. Bush got his first taste of the protests during the welcoming ceremony at Buckingham Palace. As the president moved down a receiving line with the Queen in the palace's forecourt, a British protester with a bullhorn started singing, to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It, a ditty mocking what Blair's critics say is his subservience to Bush: If you think Blair is a poodle, shout woof woof. Credit: The New York Times Post a comment in response: |
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