... world believed in Iraq's WMDs.  As somebody who lived in Germany at the time that this ill conceived war was engineered I can testify that the German media gave a lot of weight to the fact that the UN weapons inspectors could not turn up anything although they had complete freedom of movement at the end.  Hans Blix was also reported as stating that all the leads he was getting from the US turned out to be nothing.

This country may have gone over the edge as described in this article but don't try to make the case that all American alies in the rest of the world drank the same cool aid.

In fact France and Germany turned out to be the best allies the US could possibly wish for by trying almost everything at their disposal to stop this mad venture.

Posted at October 26, 2005 9:51 PM in response to Excerpt: America Unbound

... as a German I find it very strange that I have to go to the blog of a neocon like Andrew Sullivan to find some real outrage about American torture.

 How come at a supposedly democratic blog this whole issue seems to vanish amidst foreign policy navel gazing?

 More than anything the clinical discussion of this issue here indicates to me that America must truly have lost its moral compass.

Why does it take yet another Republican like McCain to take the lead in this?

Posted at October 16, 2005 8:42 PM in response to This Week On America Abroad

We may want to debate that use but it is not obviously imperialistic. It is also not obvious to me how it is good for Americas if Germany and Japan rearm and their neighbors react to this.

 
As a German I can only wonder about this patronizing completely out-of touch view of the world. Sure have your "debates" - if even Democrats can not comprehend what damage the tolerance and practice of torture has done to what America stands for in the world then there is really not much hope.  Let me spell it out: America has lost its moral authority to lead the free world.  You will probably find many Europeans who are actually happy about this - I am not.  But clearly this country has lost its moral compass.  You are unfit to lead.

Posted at October 10, 2005 2:53 PM in response to Debates We Should Be Having

We may want to debate that use but it is not obviously imperialistic. It is also not obvious to me how it is good for Americas if Germany and Japan rearm and their neighbors react to this.

 
As a German I can only wonder about this patronizing completely out-of touch view of the world. Sure have your "debates" - if even Democrats can not comprehend what damage the tolerance and practice of torture has done to what America stands for in the world then there is really not much hope.  Let me spell it out for you: America has lost its moral authority to lead the free world.  You will probably find many Europeans who are actually happy about this - I am not.  But clearly this country has lost its moral compass.  You are unfit to lead.

Posted at October 9, 2005 9:16 PM in response to Debates We Should Be Having

seed rain,

 as a "old" European I don't have much skin in this game, but it looks to me the only way to get a winning situation in Iraq is by defining something that very much looks like losing by any conventional measure as "winning".

 I am always astounded by the obsession of the anglo-saxon culture with winning.

 I've been observing the Iraq mess very closely from the beginning and I am forced to conclude that the time for winning is long gone and past.

Posted at June 18, 2005 6:38 PM in response to alternative history and future scenarios

Half Fast Skier,

 no doubt the EU does not want to see chaos engulf the middle East and affect the oil supply – yet, I believe it is reasonable to assume that a civil war in Iraq will play out pretty quickly.  The Shiites will have Iran’s support, with that there is no doubt that the Sunnis won't face much of a chance.

My bet is that once the US troops are gone Iraq will see a short bloody civil war.  Afterwards Iran will be closely aligned with a Shiite dominated Iraq (possibly minus Kurdistan - if the Sunni's get their own Bantustan doesn't really matter - they will have no oil).

Iran will be dominating the region.  While this is not an outcome that the EU will relish - it is one that we can live with.

Of course this result will be contrary to everything that the Bush administration has been aiming for - that's what you get if you have complete foreign policy idiots in charge.  

Posted at June 17, 2005 11:53 AM in response to Iraq isn't a partisan issue; it's a national security issue

Half Fast Skier,

 as one of those "old Europeans" I wished there was such an easy option to internationalize the Iraq mess.
 
Unfortunately, even if the Bush administration was to ask the EU for help I doubt he get it - in part because it is Bush doing the asking and in part because the EU is not ready to take on such a gigantic problem.
 
There was a slime chance to truly internationalize the conflict with Kerry as president.  At this stage it is to late and wells are still to poisoned.
 
The EU is comfortable to simply observe how the struggle pans out and to take it from there.=
 
My prediction is that the US will be forced to withdraw eventually, a civil war in Iraq will follow.  In the end the country will split into a Shiite south, a Sunni middle and  Kurdistan in the north.  The latter will then probably have to deal with an invading Turkey.
 
Once the dust is settled the EU will be happy to return to business with whomever will end up in power.

Posted at June 16, 2005 1:02 PM in response to Iraq isn't a partisan issue; it's a national security issue

... to change the dynamics on the ground in Iraq:  The president should issue a sincere apology for the war to the Iraqi people, pledge reparations and affirm that the American troops will only stay there at the pleasure and under the guidance of the Iraqi government.

Of course American chauvinism will never allow for that to happen.  And that is why we will continue to see a drown-out campaign while Iraq slowly spirals into civil war.  What a shame and how entirely unnecessary.

Posted at June 14, 2005 1:01 PM in response to What Now in Iraq?