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Bush Sr warning over unilateral action
(Times UK)
THE first President Bush has told his son that hopes of peace in the Middle East would be ruined if a war with Iraq were not backed by international unity.
Drawing on his own experiences before and after the 1991 Gulf War, Mr Bush Sr said that the brief flowering of hope for Arab-Israeli relations a decade ago would never have happened if America had ignored the will of the United Nations.
He also urged the President to resist his tendency to bear grudges, advising his son to bridge the rift between the United States, France and Germany.
“You’ve got to reach out to the other person. You’ve got to convince them that long-term friendship should trump short-term adversity,” he said.
The former President’s comments reflect unease among the Bush family and its entourage at the way that George W. Bush is ignoring international opinion and overriding the institutions that his father sought to uphold. Mr Bush Sr is a former US Ambassador to the UN and comes from a family steeped in
multi-lateralist traditions.
Although not addressed to his son in person, the message, in a speech at Tufts University in Massachusetts, was
unmistakeable. Mr Bush Sr said that he would have been able to achieve nothing if he had jeopardised future relations by ignoring the UN.
Also drawing on the lessons of 1991, he said that it was imperative to mend fences with allies immediately, rather than waiting until after a war.
Rest
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Church
Leaders Propose Antiwar Plan: Group Says Saddam Hussein Must
Go but Invasion of Iraq Is Wrong Approach
"We're
not just saying 'No' to war. We're not just saying, 'Do
nothing.' We're saying, 'Here's a third way,' " said
Jim Wallis, editor of the evangelical journal Sojourners.
Bishop John B. Chane, head of the Episcopal Diocese of
Washington, said the church leaders agree with President
Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair that "regime
change is imperative" in Iraq. "But," he
said, "we don't believe that all of the avenues
available to achieve that goal have truly been
explored."
The other five points in the plan: "coercive
disarmament" through more aggressive U.N. weapons
inspections; planning for a post-Hussein government run
temporarily by the United Nations rather than by the U.S
military; immediate humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people,
with U.N. forces protecting deliveries; recommitment to a
"roadmap" for establishing a Palestinian state by
2005; and reinvigorating the
U.S.-led campaign against al Qaeda and other terrorist
groups.
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