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The New York Times
Editorials / Op-Ed
President Bush's Lead Balloon
We
did not expect President Bush to come before the United Nations in the
middle of his re-election campaign and acknowledge the serious mistakes
his administration has made on Iraq. But that still left plenty of room
for him to take advantage of this one last chance to appeal to an
increasingly antagonistic world to help the Iraqis secure and rebuild
their shattered nation and prepare for elections in just four months.
Instead, Mr. Bush delivered an inexplicably defiant campaign speech in
which he glossed over
the current dire situation in Iraq for an
audience acutely aware of the true state of affairs, and scolded them
for refusing to endorse the American invasion in the first place.
Even
when he talked about issues of common agreement, like the global fight
against AIDS and easing the crushing third-world debt,� Mr. Bush
seemed more interested in praising his own policies than in assuming
the leadership of an international effort. The speech� would have
drawn cheers at an adoring Republican National Convention, but it
seemed to fall flat in a room full of stony-faced world leaders.
Mr.
Bush has never exhibited much respect for the United Nations at the
best of times. But the United States now desperately needs� the
partnership of other nations on Iraq. Without substantial help from
major nations, the prospects for stabilizing that country anytime soon
are bleak. American soldiers and taxpayers are paying a heavy price for
Washington's wrongheaded early insistence on controlling� all
important military, political and economic decision-making in
post-invasion Iraq.
Other nations have generally responded by
sitting sullenly on the sidelines. Even when they cast grudging votes
for American-sponsored Security Council resolutions, they hold back on
troops and financial support. With the war going so badly and voters
hostile to it in most democracies, that situation is unlikely to change
unless Washington signals a new attitude, and deals with other
countries as real� partners whose opinions and economic interests
are entitled to respectful consideration.
Mr. Bush might have
done better at wooing broader international support if he had spent
less time on self-justification and scolding and more on praising the
importance of international cooperation and a strengthened United
Nations. Instead, his tone-deaf speechwriters� achieved a perverse
kind of alchemy, transforming a golden opportunity into a lead balloon.
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