WASHINGTON, 4 August — House Minority leader Richard Gephardt tore into President George W. Bush’s foreign policy yesterday in a speech to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, criticizing the president’s “go it alone” policy.
In a wide sweep on international affairs, Gephardt spoke about the need for a “critical US mediating role in the Middle East,” and the need for international treaties and ballistic missile defense. He described the administration’s foreign policy as isolationist and one that creates “uncertainty and downright anxiety among our allies.”
“Europeans are worried that America is on the sidelines,” he said. “They think the Bush administration has embraced go-it-alone policies that undermine international security, hurt our economic and environmental interests, and prevent us from seizing a historic opportunity for engagement with Russia. This was a chilling message.
“Europeans told us they were especially concerned about our flat-out rejection of the Kyoto global warming treaty, and our wavering commitment to NATO operations in Southeast Europe.”
Gephardt, D-Missouri, is not the only national leader to criticize the president. Just two weeks ago, Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, called the president’s foreign policy “isolationist” — just hours before the president left for a meeting with international leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Former President Jimmy Carter also has voiced concern about the president’s performance on international issues.
Gephardt has been critical of the president’s foreign policy since Bush took office. In his speech yesterday, he slammed the president over the Kyoto agreement, recalling that 178 nations recently gathered in Bonn and agreed to implement the Kyoto treaty. All the world’s countries, with the exception the United States, agreed on a framework to reduce greenhouse gases and stem global warming.
“German environment minister, Jeurgen Trittin, told us... that an aloof United States could devastate US-European relations, I’m afraid he was right,” said Gephardt.
“I’m not a scientist. But virtually every study I’ve seen leaves little doubt that global warming is a serious, mounting problem that must be addressed. Yet on this issue, the US was disengaged, disconnected, without a voice or even a position on the negotiating table.
“...In my view, this pushed our allies away from us, creating suspicion and distrust when a policy on continuity was needed most,” said Gephardt.
He also criticized the president on arms control and nuclear weapons agreements. “It has become clear over time that the administration’s principle aim is to push aside the ABM treaty in order to build a new missile defense system. The administration repeatedly has said that it will move ahead whether or not it wins agreement from other nations. And other than missile defense, it has offered almost no new ideas for a strategic framework to promote security for America and the world.
“These example demonstrate a simple, yet profound, fact of international relations: One nation, acting alone, cannot possibly build a lasting strategic framework to which all other nations submit,” he said.
Political observers said Gephardt used the speech to outline his own foreign policy outline if he decides to run for president in 2004.
