Our friends at the Associated Press have once again reminded us why any of their releases that contain the name ‘Bush’ must always be viewed skeptically. Their latest entry, “Bush Diplomacy Means Settling for Less” is one such example.
While praising their efforts to work with the UN on Iran and Syria, AP writer Anne Gearan takes the Bush Administration in general and Condi Rice in particular, to task for their former unapologetic unilateralism:
In showdowns over Iran, North Korea and now Syria, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice seemingly agrees that half a loaf is better than none -- an unexpectedly pragmatic streak for a Bush administration better known for going its own way in international affairs.
Rice was an architect of the war in Iraq as President Bush's national security adviser, and long an open advocate of a forceful foreign policy that is often viewed with suspicion abroad. Her rhetoric hasn't changed much now that Rice is Bush's second-term secretary of state.
The fair-and-balanced folks over at the AP have conveniently forgotten the fourteen-month long diplomatic run-up to the Iraq War which led to the UN’s toothless resolution 1441. Also unmentioned are the 49 countries that supported our efforts in Iraq.
Miss Gearan then proceeds to chide Miss Rice regarding Iran, “The United States may yet persuade other countries to go along with tough sanctions, or the European diplomacy the administration once viewed with skepticism may one day bear fruit.“
The AP is apparently unhappy that the “rhetoric “of Bush diplomacy has borne wondrous fruit--sans European diplomacy--including; the freeing 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan, the abandonment of nuclear programs by Libya and North Korea, free elections in Egypt and Palestine, the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and Israel’s commitment to pull back settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.
If that’s “settling for less,” then “Bush diplomacy” should be a model to the rest of the world instead of an object of scorn for the AP.
