Re: At issue...
The Bush administration is pursuing steps to punish France for opposing the United States on the war in Iraq, including the possibility of limiting French participation in American-sponsored meetings with European allies, senior officials said today.[link|http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/24/international/worldspecial/24FRAN.html|http://www.nytimes.c...ecial/24FRAN.html]
The measures were discussed at a White House meeting on Monday of senior officials led by Stephen J. Hadley, the deputy national security adviser. Marc Grossman, the under secretary of state for political affairs, also attended, as did I. Lewis Libby and Eric Edelman, two influential hawks on the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney. Mr. Libby and Mr. Edelman were described by some administration officials as driving forces within the group.
The anger at France is so deeply felt within the administration that even Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in an interview on Tuesday, warned that the country would be punished for taking on the United States. Asked on "The Charlie Rose Show" on PBS if France would suffer consequences, Mr. Powell bluntly replied, "Yes."
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The White House's confrontational strategy, administration officials said, is intended to try to bludgeon France into more acquiescent behavior, or at least to make it clear that the Bush administration will now only cooperate with France when it is in the interest of the United States.
As von Rumsfeld is fond of saying, quoting Al Capone, "You can get more with a kind word and a gun [bludgeon?] than you can with a kind word alone." Perhaps he and the rest of the cabal in power might do well to ponder more of Capone's career: he was brought down, at the end, via finance. The euro ploy just might work. And if the junta continues spreading fear and enmity around at the present rate, these ingredients could provide a handy catalyst for the European integration of which bp is so sceptical.
A majority of the world's people are, at the least, suspicious of this country's motives. With every passing day this administration is suffered to remain encysted, more of them move from suspicion to outright hatred and fear. There will be consequences.
cordially,
