AS NIXON SAID TO IKE:

Analysis: Washington and London's divided interests (Paul Reynolds, 3/12/03, BBC News)

The outburst by the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the US might go to war without the UK reflects the tension between Washington and London about whether further diplomacy is a waste of time.

It helps to explain why there is such a rush at the United Nations to try to get a follow-up and final resolution which will say that Iraq has a certain time in which to comply.

Britain is trying to head off both American impatience and domestic dissent. [...]

As for Mr Rumsfeld, he is famous for speaking his mind and he has done so again.

US and UK interests have diverged because Mr Blair needs to go to the UN Security Council and Mr Bush does not

He and others like him in the administration, who never wanted to go the United Nations at all, are now impatient at the complicated efforts to get another resolution.

They basically want to clear the decks and start the action.

Mr Rumsfeld managed in passing to dismiss the whole British military effort with his remark that there would be "workarounds", a statement of fact given that the US does not need the British there militarily.

But such candour is not helpful to Mr Blair who has invested so much in sending a third of his armed forces to the Gulf.

It's rather amusing to see people claiming that Rumsfeld wandered off the reservation on this one. It seems obvious that the point was to get Mr. Blair and Mr. Straw in gear. We respect how much the PM has done, but at this point the Brits are asking us to wait anoher 45 days and that's just not going to happen. So Mr. Rumsfeld was sent out to crack the whip and let them know they have no real leverage. Like the man almost said, geopolitics ain't beanbag. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 12, 2003 7:20 PM