LIEBS AND WOOSTER:

Lieberman to Fault U.S., Europe on Iraq (February 07, 2003, Lycos)

Sen. Joe Lieberman, appearing alongside German and French foreign ministers who have been reluctant to support military action against Iraq, will fault both the United States and its European allies for their inability to work together.

Lieberman aides said the Connecticut Democrat, in a speech prepared for delivery Saturday at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, will call on European leaders to back U.S. military action and enforce U.N. demands that Saddam Hussein disarm.

Lieberman will say that while the United States often takes its allies for granted and fails to listen to its partners, the Europeans have failed to see the threat posed by terrorists and tyrants and have mischaracterized U.S. foreign policy as ignorant and naive.

If you're an elected official and you have something like this to say, do it here, not when you're with the enemy. That's not to say that Senator Lieberman is an enemy-sympathizer, rather he resembles Orwell's portrait of P.G. Wodehouse, a man whose best days lay behind him who got confused by events and said some silly things.

MORE:
FLAMING RUM PUNCH:
Rumsfeld Slams NATO Delay on Support for Turkey (John Chalmers, 2/08/03, Reuters)

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Saturday branded as "inexcusable" moves by France, Germany and Belgium to stall NATO planning for the protection of Turkey in the event of a war in Iraq.

Rumsfeld said if a three-week deadlock at NATO is not ended, Washington and other allies will provide defense for Turkey anyway, and NATO's credibility would suffer a severe blow.

"Turkey will not be hurt. The United States and the countries in NATO will go right ahead and do it," he told a security conference in the German city of Munich. "What will be hurt will be NATO, not Turkey." [...]

Diplomats said that if they wanted to climb down, the three dissenters could argue that the decision did not involve war preparations or military deployments but merely planning to help protect a NATO ally in case of need.

However, some said France and Germany were so angered by disparaging comments by Rumsfeld and other influential U.S. officials, and so strongly backed by public opinion, that they might well block the NATO decision.

Rumsfeld sought to play down his recent comment that France and Germany's reticence over war had sidelined them, branding them "old Europe," saying at his age "old" was a term of endearment.

But he urged Berlin and Paris to get on board: "As the old saying goes, if you're in a hole, stop digging."

Some folks have complained that our language about France and Germany has become too hyperbolic, that it's not fair to portray them as enemies when they're merely opposed to this war. However, if you're trying to stop us from protecting an ally--Turkey--when war's about to start, you are objectively an enemy.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 7, 2003 10:11 PM