For Bush and Blair, The Honeymoon Is Over (but is it?)

[rodeodance]

Good summary with links to full stories. I do not think the honeymoon is over but sure are a lot of "i have a headaches" !!!


http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=749377

For Bush and Blair, The Honeymoon Is Over

Though it hardly seemed possible, the Bush administration appears ready to thrust the United States even further into global isolation. Even President Bush's most loyal international ally, Prime Minister Tony Blair, now appears disillusioned with America's faltering leadership. Blair traveled to Washington yesterday to discuss next month's G8 conference (which his nation is hosting) and to press the Bush administration to support his agenda for the talks. No dice. The two men "appeared as divided as ever" on two of Blair's highest priorities – global warming and Africa – and Blair showed it. At their joint press conference, "Blair was unsmiling and appeared subdued," the Boston Globe reports. It's gotten so bad that even the right-wing Heritage Foundation is wondering whether "disagreements over Blair's 'soft issues' agenda damage the special relationship." Below, a run-down of the growing fissures in the transatlantic alliance:

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GLOBAL WARMING SPLIT – WHETHER OR NOT TO IGNORE REALITY: Blair and Bush also disagree on how to tackle global warming. Blair's unique strategy is to actually address the problem: he "has vowed to make climate change a central issue" at the G8 meeting, and has been pressuring industrialized nations for months to boost energy efficiency and use more renewable energy. Meanwhile, Bush still prefers to deal with global warming by attacking the facts: according to today's New York Times, his administration has been letting a former oil lobbyist personally edit government climate documents "in ways that play down links" between man-made emissions and climate change. (This is especially damaging since the best Bush could say about combating global warming yesterday was that his administration "lead the world when it comes to dollars spent … on research about climate change.")

DOWNING STREET – BUSH AND BLAIR FOCUS ON IRRELEVANT TALKING POINT: Bush and Blair found one moment of harmony yesterday when asked about the Downing Street Memo – a July 2002 memo written by British intelligence officers which claimed the Bush administration was fixing intelligence to support its decision to invade Iraq. Bush and Blair focused on the same talking point: Bush could not have decided to invade Iraq in July 2002 because that was before the issue was brought to the U.N. In fact, the U.N. process strongly indicated that Bush had made up his mind. Bush said he was going to go to the U.N. to get a second resolution approving an invasion. When it was clear that effort didn't have support, he invaded Iraq anyway. Bush was adamant throughout that the U.N. process would not impact his timeline for military action.

DOWNING STREET – BUSH IGNORES CRITICAL ISSUE, BLAIR CONTRADICTS HIS GOVERNMENT: President Bush never addressed the memo's central claim that the intelligence was being fixed around his policy of attacking Iraq. (An issue the 9/11 Commission, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the WMD commission have all neglected to address.) Blair claimed that "the facts were not being fixed in any shape or form at all." His statement flatly contradicts those of British government officials, who do not dispute the authenticity of the Downing Street Memo. Sign on to the letter written by Rep. John Conyers demanding that Bush answer questions about the memo.......

[BillZBubb]

1. Yeah, right, the Poodle has new stripes!

Anytime his master tells him to roll over, Tony boy will have four up on the floor. Count on it.