Mrs. Edge
Bono's Belly Dancing Friend
Canada, Mexico, many other countries being snubbed/punished post Iraq by Bush & Co.
When the US was right in the thick of things with the war, I could maybe understand postponing the visit (which had been planned ages ago), but this is obvious petty snubbing.
It used to be that Mexico was the favoured neighbour (Bush visited them right after election instead of Canada), but I guess we're all part of the "coalition in the doghouse" (my term)....a growing list!
P.S. I have nothing against his praising Australia..that only makes sense. It's just the rest of it that bugs me.
Bush rubs salt in Canada's wound
Has time for Little Rock, not Ottawa
Pointedly praises war ally Australia
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON?In the end, George W. Bush chose Arkansas over Ottawa.
Instead of sitting down yesterday with Prime Minister Jean Chr?tien, Bush sidled up to a retired Little Rock businessman named David Shapiro to symbolize his need to pass a key tax-cut plan he hopes he can ride to re-election.
Despite the official line from here that the U.S. president was too preoccupied with war in Iraq to make an official visit to Ottawa, Bush dropped into the Arkansas capital to talk about the domestic economy, making only passing reference to an ongoing war against terrorism.
He did, however, open his remarks to 2,000 supporters with a reference to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a guest of the Bushes at the president's Texas ranch on the weekend, again heaping praise on him for sending his soldiers to stand side by side with Americans in Iraq.
In what may have been a first, the mention of an Australian prime minister brought prolonged cheers from an Arkansas audience.
"So, I'm on my way back from Crawford to Washington and, what the heck, I thought I'd stop in Arkansas," he said, bringing laughter from an audience likely unaware that Bush was filling a gap in his day book.
On the day that had been long-planned for the first visit to Ottawa by the president, Bush was otherwise occupied. Aboard Air Force One he called Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to offer condolences and U.S. aid to Turkish earthquake victims. Bush also offered prayers for American tornado victims and joined a roundtable of small-business owners in Little Rock.
After flying back to the White House, Bush had a late afternoon meeting with George Robertson, secretary-general of NATO.
White House spokesperson Scott McClellan, speaking with reporters en route to Arkansas from Texas, denied that a speech focusing on tax cuts and job growth was a quantum leap from cancelling a trip because of ongoing concerns in Iraq.
Bush, in fact, declared an end to major combat in Iraq last week during a much ballyhooed address from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
"Canada is a friend and ally and the trip to Canada was postponed,'' McClellan said. "That was the decision that was made in mutual consultations with Canada. So it was a mutual decision about postponing the trip.
"The president looks forward to visiting Canada in the future.''
He maintained the reason for the postponement was related to the situation in Iraq.
"Presidential visits to foreign countries aren't done in a day,'' McClellan said.
Despite the official soft sell, Bush is no longer making any secret of the chasm between those who backed his Iraqi invasion and those who did not.
In a variation on the "you're either with us, or against us'' doctrine favoured by Bush, the president was positively fawning when he mentioned Howard. That amounted to a double-edged sword for the Australian leader who faced massive protests at home where he was accused of being a Bush lapdog.
"Australia is an important ally of ours,'' Bush said. "Australia is a strong friend of the United States of America.
"The Australians fought beside our forces in Iraq. They rose to their responsibilities as a free nation.''
Bush also said he would fast-track a free-trade agreement with Australia, something Howard has been advocating.
Besides hosting Howard at the Texas ranch, an invitation the Bushes dole out to favoured allies, the White House announced yesterday the president will have dinner with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the White House tomorrow. Aznar was also a staunch ally of Bush on Iraq.
As well, Bush is tentatively scheduled to stop in Krakow on his way to Russia later this month to meet Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski to thank him for Poland's contribution of 200 troops in Iraq.
On the other side of the ledger, Chr?tien has company.
Yesterday was Mexico's national holiday, and while Bush praised Mexican-Americans, he ignored that country's president, Vicente Fox.
Fox, once a close ally of the U.S. president, now is snubbed on the Cinco de Mayo, the holiday which marks the day Mexico defeated a French army in the town of Puebla in 1862.
The American dismissal of the French and German governments over Iraq is well known, but there are other subtle and not-so-subtle punishments for smaller nations that did not support the Iraqi invasion.
Chile, an opponent of the war, has seen a free-trade agreement with Washington suddenly hit a legislative wall.
Pending free-trade talks with New Zealand, another war opponent, have stalled.
No date has been set for a new visit to Canada by Bush, but U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said last month that Bush hopes to come to Canada in the fall. Other observers have suggested the visit won't come until Chr?tien has left office and has been replaced, likely by former finance minister Paul Martin.
When the US was right in the thick of things with the war, I could maybe understand postponing the visit (which had been planned ages ago), but this is obvious petty snubbing.
It used to be that Mexico was the favoured neighbour (Bush visited them right after election instead of Canada), but I guess we're all part of the "coalition in the doghouse" (my term)....a growing list!
P.S. I have nothing against his praising Australia..that only makes sense. It's just the rest of it that bugs me.
Bush rubs salt in Canada's wound
Has time for Little Rock, not Ottawa
Pointedly praises war ally Australia
TIM HARPER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON?In the end, George W. Bush chose Arkansas over Ottawa.
Instead of sitting down yesterday with Prime Minister Jean Chr?tien, Bush sidled up to a retired Little Rock businessman named David Shapiro to symbolize his need to pass a key tax-cut plan he hopes he can ride to re-election.
Despite the official line from here that the U.S. president was too preoccupied with war in Iraq to make an official visit to Ottawa, Bush dropped into the Arkansas capital to talk about the domestic economy, making only passing reference to an ongoing war against terrorism.
He did, however, open his remarks to 2,000 supporters with a reference to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a guest of the Bushes at the president's Texas ranch on the weekend, again heaping praise on him for sending his soldiers to stand side by side with Americans in Iraq.
In what may have been a first, the mention of an Australian prime minister brought prolonged cheers from an Arkansas audience.
"So, I'm on my way back from Crawford to Washington and, what the heck, I thought I'd stop in Arkansas," he said, bringing laughter from an audience likely unaware that Bush was filling a gap in his day book.
On the day that had been long-planned for the first visit to Ottawa by the president, Bush was otherwise occupied. Aboard Air Force One he called Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to offer condolences and U.S. aid to Turkish earthquake victims. Bush also offered prayers for American tornado victims and joined a roundtable of small-business owners in Little Rock.
After flying back to the White House, Bush had a late afternoon meeting with George Robertson, secretary-general of NATO.
White House spokesperson Scott McClellan, speaking with reporters en route to Arkansas from Texas, denied that a speech focusing on tax cuts and job growth was a quantum leap from cancelling a trip because of ongoing concerns in Iraq.
Bush, in fact, declared an end to major combat in Iraq last week during a much ballyhooed address from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
"Canada is a friend and ally and the trip to Canada was postponed,'' McClellan said. "That was the decision that was made in mutual consultations with Canada. So it was a mutual decision about postponing the trip.
"The president looks forward to visiting Canada in the future.''
He maintained the reason for the postponement was related to the situation in Iraq.
"Presidential visits to foreign countries aren't done in a day,'' McClellan said.
Despite the official soft sell, Bush is no longer making any secret of the chasm between those who backed his Iraqi invasion and those who did not.
In a variation on the "you're either with us, or against us'' doctrine favoured by Bush, the president was positively fawning when he mentioned Howard. That amounted to a double-edged sword for the Australian leader who faced massive protests at home where he was accused of being a Bush lapdog.
"Australia is an important ally of ours,'' Bush said. "Australia is a strong friend of the United States of America.
"The Australians fought beside our forces in Iraq. They rose to their responsibilities as a free nation.''
Bush also said he would fast-track a free-trade agreement with Australia, something Howard has been advocating.
Besides hosting Howard at the Texas ranch, an invitation the Bushes dole out to favoured allies, the White House announced yesterday the president will have dinner with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the White House tomorrow. Aznar was also a staunch ally of Bush on Iraq.
As well, Bush is tentatively scheduled to stop in Krakow on his way to Russia later this month to meet Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski to thank him for Poland's contribution of 200 troops in Iraq.
On the other side of the ledger, Chr?tien has company.
Yesterday was Mexico's national holiday, and while Bush praised Mexican-Americans, he ignored that country's president, Vicente Fox.
Fox, once a close ally of the U.S. president, now is snubbed on the Cinco de Mayo, the holiday which marks the day Mexico defeated a French army in the town of Puebla in 1862.
The American dismissal of the French and German governments over Iraq is well known, but there are other subtle and not-so-subtle punishments for smaller nations that did not support the Iraqi invasion.
Chile, an opponent of the war, has seen a free-trade agreement with Washington suddenly hit a legislative wall.
Pending free-trade talks with New Zealand, another war opponent, have stalled.
No date has been set for a new visit to Canada by Bush, but U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said last month that Bush hopes to come to Canada in the fall. Other observers have suggested the visit won't come until Chr?tien has left office and has been replaced, likely by former finance minister Paul Martin.
