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Guardian: Europe lacks moral fibre, says US hawk
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2002 20:14:15 -0500
This seems to confirm the previous report djf ------ Forwarded Message From: "DL Neil, Mail list account" <IP () dande homechoice co uk> Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2002 17:17:56 +0000 To: dave () farber net Subject: Guardian: Europe lacks moral fibre, says US hawk With friends like these... In what ratio does Perle imagine he can sway Leaders of States' (and thus his superiors) opinions 'his way', or turn them 'off' and risk them turning 'the other way'? It is interesting to go through his (reported) logic and to turn each statement around, eg para 2: who has lost his/their moral compass? Upon doing so, you realise that there are few facts involved, and only (extreme) opinion. Through to the last para where "you can't" plainly means "he can't", which is quite a different viewpoint - particularly in the Asian mind! Reading through this sort of thing, I can readily agree with parts, and prefer to reject others. In many cases however his choice of language, and complete disregard for other people's points of view or feelings/reactions to his words, effectively makes him an enemy to his own cause. So sad that such people would like us to believe them to be serious decision makers! =dn URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,838796,00.html Europe lacks moral fibre, says US hawk Edward Pilkington and Ewen MacAskill Wednesday November 13, 2002 The Guardian Richard Perle, a leading Pentagon adviser on Iraq, last night launched an extraordinary tirade against Europe which he accused of losing its moral direction and providing succour to Saddam Hussein. "I think Europe has lost its moral compass. Many Europeans have become so obsessed by the prospect of violence they have failed to notice who we are dealing with," he said in an interview with the Guardian. Mr Perle expressed serious reservations about the United Nations chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, and the ability of his team to disarm Iraq. But he reserved his most scathing comments for Germany and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's new anti-war stance. "Germany has subsided into a moral numbing pacifism. For the German chancellor to say he will have nothing to do with action against Saddam Hussein, even if approved by the United Nations, is unilateralism," Mr Perle said. France, which led resistance within the UN security council to the Bush administration's drive for an automatic mandate for war against Iraq, fared little better. Did the French show more signs of moral fibre? "I have seen diplomatic manoeuvre, but not moral fibre," Mr Perle said. He exempted Tony Blair from his criticism, saying the British prime minister had displayed the outrage towards President Saddam that should be felt. But he accused the European left in general of choosing to ignore the realities of the Iraqi leader's excesses. "I don't see how anyone, particularly any liberal, can say anything that can be construed as protecting the regime of Saddam Hussein. And yet that's the position that many on the left have taken." Mr Perle's comments reflect the strained ties between Washington and Europe since George Bush came to power in 2000 over a range of issues, from the environment to trade and now Iraq. US-German relations slumped to their worst since 1945 in the wake of Chancellor Schröder's recent anti-Iraq war election campaign. Mr Perle, who is close to key hawks within the Pentagon and who was an early advocate of regime change in Baghdad, predicted that Iraq was just the first of a long list of dictatorships and countries harbouring terrorists that merited the international community's attention. He mentioned Iran, Syria and North Korea. Referring to North Korea's recent admission that it had a nuclear weapons programme, he said: "Now you understand what he <[President Bush]> meant by axis of evil. There are some people you can't do deals with. You could not do a deal with Hitler, and you can't do a deal with Saddam Hussein or with North Korea." Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***** ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To unsubscribe or update your address, click http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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