At 08:07 PM 9/16/2004 -0700 David Brin wrote:
>Another good point. And my answer is it was none of
>their damned business. EUROPE was the center of pain
>and we carefully used diplomacy and calm leadership to
>build consensus there, showing all of the maturity
>that was missing re Iraq.
Actually, for all your talk of "building friends", there were very large
anti-American protests in Greece during the Serbia War. In fact, I
believe that the Greeks (a NATO ally no less) even prevented the US from
using the port at Thessaloniki for resupplying during the campaign. Some
other smaller NATO countries I believe also refused to participate in the
campaign. Far from being a "consensus" it was actually perhaps the most
divisive issue NATO had faced - especially since it had *zero* UN Security
Council authorization - up to that point.
The only real difference betwee the Iraq War Coalition and the Serbia War
coalition are Belgium, France, and the Christian Democrats narrowly losing
the last election in Germany. France, as we know, very frequently has had
its own anti-American motiviations, as well as some serious oil contracts
with Saddam Hussein on the line. Given that France has been lobbying for
years to *end* sanctions and *end* inspections in Iraq, it is hardly
imaginable that we could suddenly encourage them to forcibly enforce
inspections. And, as you note, Kosovo was in their own backyard, and thus
a threat to them in a way that Iraq singularly was not. Overall, though,
almost all of our other allies were in favor of it - especially among those
who participated in the Serbia War.
JDG
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world,
it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03
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