In the US, the difference of opinion between Washington, Paris and Berlin on what to do with Iraq is being presented by politicians and the press as a rift between the good and the ungrateful, the selfless and the selfish.
The US, needless to say, is shown as generously doing its best to save mankind from the clutches of an bloodthirsty ogre while those wicked, weasel-minded Europeans do everything to save him and thwart honest George’s high-minded plans. France, Belgium, and Germany would be Soviet socialist republics by now if it were not for US saving them after World War II, the American public is told. These Europeans are ungrateful curs. What rubbish.
Quite apart from the question as to why there would still be a Soviet republic in France or Germany when all the others have gone in Europe, this rant forgets that the postwar division of the continent into Communist and non-Communist blocs was cooked up between Stalin and Roosevelt; Washington was determined to prevent British influence in Eastern Europe after World War II.
The Europeans remain immensely grateful for America’s past generosity and sacrifices for their freedom. But that does not mean that they have to dance to Washington’s tune for the rest of time. The idea that, because America helped save them in the past, they are morally obliged to submit to its will today negates the very principles of freedom that Americans fought and died for in two World Wars. That is the slavish obedience the Soviet Union imposed on its vassals. If governments are free, then they are free to disagree with the US, even on a matter as grave as the Iraqi crisis. Never has so much vitriol been targeted at the Europeans with such blind fury. Never has it been so arrogant. Never has it been so shortsighted.
At the moment, in fact, the rift is not between the US and Europe but within Europe. The British, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, Dutch and Danes are Europeans too, but they are on the opposite side of the fence to the French, Germans, Belgians and Austrians when it comes to Iraq. But then, when it comes to foreign affairs, there are no Europeans — only French, British, Germans, Italians, et al. There is no united states of Europe; and Washington is not its capital. Yet that has not stopped all Europeans being targeted in this American rant. If it continues, it will alienate Washington’s friends in Europe and push them closer toward the skeptics.
But that is talking about governments. When it comes to people, it is a different picture and that picture says that never has the US has been more isolated or more mistaken. Across Europe, across the world yesterday, from India to Iceland, from Australia to the Arctic, millions upon millions took to the streets to reject war as the way to deal with Saddam Hussein. The fact that across the US, too, people demonstrated in their tens of thousands against war is the most encouraging aspect of yesterday’s protests.
There are plenty of Americans who profoundly oppose what the Bush administration is up to. Sen. Robert Byrd’s clarion call to sanity in the US Senate last Wednesday reminds us of that fact. And we must not forget it. There is another America, an America that is on the side of justice and integrity. This rift over Iraq is not about America against the world. It is about the White House against the world.
Sadly, President Bush seems to think that everyone else is wrong, and he alone is right. He may be even more dangerously deluded than we imagined.
