Keith, I haven't yet checked the BBC or other UK sites to see how they are reporting Camp David today, but below is something posted this afternoon in the WP. I agree that these high poll numbers are quite fluid, even at this peak, and will dip and wobble shortly, not so much by the sight of dead or wounded GI's but dead and wounded civilians. If Americans have come to believe this is a moral and necessary war, they must believe that is being conducted in the most humanely possible way, in order to preserve an image of America's good intentions. I saw some of this press meeting this morning on my out, and heard Bush make that sheesh-clucking sound before several answers and it suddenly occurred to me just who should be cast in the war movie portraying GW Bush: Tommy Smothers. "(Sheesh-cluck) I'm proud of the large coalition of allies we have in this effort. (Sheesh-cluck) It's larger than the one we had before!" (sheesh-cluck and look of exasperation). It's possible that Dick Smothers could portray Tony Blair, given that as the straight man in this duo he often had to stand there and look pained and impatient. - KWC
Differences Remain in Allies' Relationship By Glenn Frankel, Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, March 27, 2003; 5:27 PM It was a display of British-American solidarity and determination consciously designed to evoke memories of the famous war-time meetings of Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But today's joint press conference by President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David also revealed some subtle but important differences between the two allies on the war in Iraq and its aftermath. While Bush emphasized U.S. determination to prosecute the war "however long it takes," Blair stuck to the message that U.S. and British forces had already made far more military progress than media reports indicate. He suggested they were going slow at least in part to minimize civilian casualties. And while Bush contended that Washington and London had put together a vast coalition of "ally after ally after ally," Blair readily conceded that some longtime allies disagreed with military action. Instead, he emphasized the threat that had compelled Britain and the United States to go to war against President Saddam Hussein's government. The two men also seemed to tiptoe around potential disagreement over the United Nations' role in administering a post-war Iraq. These differences reflect the differing domestic constituencies and world views of the two leaders. U.S. opinion polls show that Bush currently enjoys widespread public support for the war and can afford to be more direct about the sacrifices the conflict may entail. Blair, on the other hand, rules a nation where support for the war is much more fragile and conditional, and so he sought to portray the past week as a clear success rather than focus on the potential struggle ahead. He also sought to emphasize the humanitarian purposes he contends are behind the campaign. Blair had come to Camp David hoping to focus the discussion on post-conflict issues, such as forging a significant role for the United Nations in the administration of postwar Iraq, reviving the Middle East peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, and restoring the damaged ties between the United States and European allies like France and Germany, who have vehemently opposed the military action. But the on-going military campaign ended up dominating much of the discussion and the press conference. "Our primary focus now is and must be the military victory," Blair conceded. He insisted that all had gone according to plan so far, and he equated the questions that have arisen over the Iraqi campaign with early doubts about the 1999 air campaign in Kosovo and the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. "You reach this particular point where people start asking how much time it takes to get the job done," Blair said. "The important thing is, the job will be done." He praised "the massive amount" of progress he said the military campaign had already achieved. And he suggested that one reason why the war was going slower than some had predicted was because "we have very deliberately wanted to do this in a way that protects the future of the Iraqi people." Thus, he said, "the air campaign is targeted very, very specifically, as precisely as we possibly can [against] aspects of Saddam's regime, not the civilian population." Before he came to Washington, Blair had said he hoped to raise the issue of healing the wounds between the United States and Europe following the bruising and unsuccessful diplomatic effort to gain a U.N. resolution endorsing military action. But the subject did not arise today, except when Blair said, "At some point we will have to come back and discuss how the disagreement arose." He also appeared to back away from his strong emphasis before the House of Commons earlier in the week for a major United Nations role in rebuilding and administering postwar Iraq. Members of the Bush administration are opposed to such a role, although British officials contend that without that role, many countries and nongovernmental organizations would be legally barred from participating in the post-conflict reconstruction effort. Today Blair stressed that both he and Bush wanted a swift U.N. resolution allowing Secretary General Kofi Annan to relaunch the "Oil for Food" program that Annan suspended when the conflict broke out. But Blair was fuzzier when it came to a U.N. role after the war ends. While he and Bush agreed in principle that the United Nations should be "closely involved," said Blair, "there are huge numbers of details to be discussed." Bush was effusive in his praise of the British leader. "America has learned a lot about Tony Blair over the last weeks," he said. "We've learned that he's man of courage, that he's a man of vision. And we're proud to have him as a friend." The president equated the war in Iraq with Britain and America's "costly and heroic struggle against Nazism," and their joint crusade against Communism during the Cold War. And Blair chimed in: "I believe the alliance between the United States and Great Britain has never been stronger." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38431-2003Mar27.html _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
