KRAKOW, Poland, 1 June 2003 — US President George W. Bush urged Europe yesterday to move beyond arguments over the Iraq war and unite against terrorism, telling his critics it was “no time to stir up divisions” in the Atlantic alliance.
“By waging this fight together we will speed the day of final victory,” Bush said on the first stop of a week-long, six-nation trip that will bring him face-to-face with leading opponents of the war in Europe and on to the Middle East.
He evoked Nazi Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland to illustrate his case for pre-emptive strikes on “outlaw states” and terrorists. He spoke at Krakow’s Wawel Castle, seat of medieval Polish kings, after visiting the Auschwitz death camp.
“Today our alliance of freedom faces a new enemy, a lethal combination of terrorist groups, outlaw states seeking weapons of mass destruction, an ideology of power and domination that targets the innocent and justifies any crime.
“This is the time for all of us to unite in the defense of liberty. This is no time to stir up divisions in a great alliance,” he said. Nonetheless, he took time to chide Europe for its hostility to American genetically modified foodstuffs.
Bush was starting his first foreign tour since a war that strained relations with key allies like France, Germany and Russia. It remains a sore topic as US troops struggle to keep order in Iraq and Washington and its British allies deny they manipulated evidence of banned weapons to make the case for war.
Bush acknowledged relations had been tested, as he prepared to meet the main war opponents at summits in Russia and France.
“America and European countries have been called to confront the threat of global terror. Each nation has faced difficult decisions about the use of military force to keep the peace. We have seen unity and common purpose. We’ve also seen debate, some of it helpful, some of it divisive,” he said.
Offering an olive branch, he added: “I have come to Krakow to state the intentions of my country. The United States is committed to a strong Atlantic alliance to ensure our security, to advance human freedom and to keep peace in the world.”
Bush later flew to St. Petersburg to meet dozens of world leaders including Iraq war opponents Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. They will all attend a summit of the Group of Eight (G8) big powers in Evian, France from today.
Bush skipped most festivities thrown by Putin for his native city’s 300th anniversary. Both he and Putin — along with President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder — in separate interviews tried to put the Iraqi divisions behind them ahead of their formal G8 summit Monday in Evian, France.
