14 - 20 February 2002
Issue No.573
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 February 2002 Issue No.573 |
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Fuelling the fire
US President George Bush's "axis of evil" statements in his State of the Union address have infuriated the US's closest European allies, Anayat Durrani in Washington, reports
United States President George W Bush's "axis of evil" statements in his State of the Union address have done more than just rub Iran, Iraq, and North Korea the wrong way. His comments have drawn sharp criticism from several staunch European allies in the US-led war on terrorism.
While the European Union (EU) was quick to back the US-led campaign in Afghanistan, senior officials from Germany, Britain, Spain and France have all voiced dismay over Bush's 29 January State of the Union speech in which he named Iran, Iraq and North Korea as sponsors of terrorism in an "axis of evil." Bush singled out the three countries as posing a threat to the US because of their alleged support for terrorism and their efforts to develop or obtain weapons of mass destruction.
EU nations have raised concerns about the prospect that the US will unilaterally expand the war against terrorism. Ludger Volmer, a state secretary at the German Foreign Ministry, said: "The terror argument cannot be used to settle old scores." German Defence Minister Rudolph Sharping advocated more political than military strategy for dealing with Iraq.
Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said of the US, "We are allies and we are friends, but in this particular case we don't share this point of view." Pique and his EU colleagues have expressed concerns about the direction of the post-Afghanistan anti-terror campaign. They continue to favour cooperation with Iran on trade, reaching out to North Korea, and have advocated diplomatic means for dealing with Iraq.
In an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper, Chris Patten, the EU's external affairs commissioner, cautioned Washington about succumbing to "unilateralist overdrive" and about pursuing "an absolutist and simplistic" view of the world. Patten said labelling Iran, Iraq and North Korea, as an "axis of evil" was "deeply unhelpful." "There is more to be said for trying to engage and to draw these societies into the international community than to cut them off," he said, adding that "constructive engagement" with Iran and North Korea would be more effective than a US policy full of "more rhetoric than substance."
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw dismissed the tone of the speech as being geared more toward a domestic audience and politics. "I thought the State of the Union speech was best understood by the fact that there are mid-term congressional elections coming up in November," Straw said.
The strongest criticism of US policy, however, has come from France. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine criticised the US as having a "simplistic" foreign policy. "Today we are threatened by a simplistic quality in US policy that reduces all the problems of the world to the struggle against terrorism. It is not properly thought out," Vedrine told French radio on 6 February. "We cannot reduce the world's problems to the fight against terrorism alone," he said. "We must deal with the root causes, the existence of poverty, injustice, humiliation and so on." He said Bush's speech showed that the administration's approach to foreign policy was one done "unilaterally, without consulting anyone, based on their interpretation and on their interests." Vedrine described Bush's objectives as "the exercise of political domination -- purely and simply because he has the biggest boat."
France's open criticism of US policy comes in sharp contrast to its immediate and strong support of the US-led war on terrorism following the tragedy of 11 September. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin supported Vedrine's views last Friday, saying, "We hope the US does not give in to the strong temptation of unilateralism." Jospin stressed the need for international cooperation and the importance of addressing the root causes of terrorism. "Our conception of the world aims to create a more balanced international community ... based on a multilateral approach," he said.
Another question that has put the EU at odds with Washington is the Middle East issue. EU foreign ministers have emphasised political means over military ones to resolve the conflict.
Vedrine has been the most outspoken on this issue, criticising Bush's hard-line stance against Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat and unwavering support for Israel. Vedrine said Europeans were "unanimous in not supporting the Middle East policy of the White House," and called it "a mistake to blindly accept the policy of pure repression conducted by Ariel Sharon." EU foreign ministers have supported a Middle East plan calling for Palestinian elections, a newly-declared Palestinian state recognised by Israel that would be admitted to the United Nations. Vedrine presented the plan at a meeting of the European Union, which unanimously accepted it. The proposal is expected to be developed further at a foreign ministers meeting on 18 February.
The criticisms expressed in recent weeks have given the appearance of a "trans- Atlantic rift" between the US and European countries on issues ranging from foreign policy to environmental issues. Regarding the claim that the US is acting unilaterally, Secretary of State Colin Powell said during an address to the US House International Relations Committee, "This suggestion that you sometimes see in intellectual circles that the US is acting unilaterally, and not consulting with our European partners, simply could not be further from the truth."
Powell added, "We believe in multilateralism. But when it is a matter of principle, and when the international community does not agree with us, we do not shrink from doing that which we think is right, which is in our interest, even if some of our friends disagree with us."
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