MrsSpringsteen
Blue Crack Addict
Wow, that Sharon stuff is interesting..
Scowcroft calls war 'failing venture'
By Associated Press October 17, 2004
WASHINGTON -- The national security adviser under the first President Bush said the current president acted contemptuously toward NATO and Europe after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and is trying to cooperate now out of desperation to "rescue a failing venture" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Brent Scowcroft, a mentor to the current national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, also said in an interview published in Britain that Bush is inordinately influenced by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel.
"Sharon just has him wrapped around his little finger," Scowcroft told London's Financial Times. "I think the president is mesmerized."
Scowcroft said the Bush administration's "unilateralist" position was partly responsible for the decline of the trans-Atlantic relationship after Sept. 11. "It's in general bad," he said. "It's not really hostile, but there's an edge to it."
Early on, he said, "we had gotten contemptuous of Europeans and their weaknesses. We had really turned unilateral."
Although slightly diminished since then, the unilateralist policies remain fundamentally little changed, Scowcroft said. Recent overtures to cooperate in Afghanistan and Iraq with the United Nations and NATO were "as much an act of desperation as anything else . . . to rescue a failing venture."
On Israel and Sharon, the former security adviser said Sharon calls Bush after strongly retaliating for a Palestinian suicide attack and says: "I'm on the front line of terrorism,' and the president says, 'Yes, you are.' "
Scowcroft said Sharon "has been nothing but trouble."
Scowcroft calls war 'failing venture'
By Associated Press October 17, 2004
WASHINGTON -- The national security adviser under the first President Bush said the current president acted contemptuously toward NATO and Europe after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and is trying to cooperate now out of desperation to "rescue a failing venture" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Brent Scowcroft, a mentor to the current national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, also said in an interview published in Britain that Bush is inordinately influenced by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel.
"Sharon just has him wrapped around his little finger," Scowcroft told London's Financial Times. "I think the president is mesmerized."
Scowcroft said the Bush administration's "unilateralist" position was partly responsible for the decline of the trans-Atlantic relationship after Sept. 11. "It's in general bad," he said. "It's not really hostile, but there's an edge to it."
Early on, he said, "we had gotten contemptuous of Europeans and their weaknesses. We had really turned unilateral."
Although slightly diminished since then, the unilateralist policies remain fundamentally little changed, Scowcroft said. Recent overtures to cooperate in Afghanistan and Iraq with the United Nations and NATO were "as much an act of desperation as anything else . . . to rescue a failing venture."
On Israel and Sharon, the former security adviser said Sharon calls Bush after strongly retaliating for a Palestinian suicide attack and says: "I'm on the front line of terrorism,' and the president says, 'Yes, you are.' "
Scowcroft said Sharon "has been nothing but trouble."
d. Admittedly I was still in my pacifist phase, which came to an abrupt end with Bosnia). It's chilling when Bush I's big shot national security people are taking swipes at the current administration for their mistakes. It tells you that yes, this stuff is wrong.
