Mending Fences

The president's current trip through Europe is being called by many in the MSM a "fence mending" tour. They call it this because most within the MSM believe the president has much to apologize for to the Europeans, for he shamefully ignored the advice of our wiser, smarter European cousins and went into Iraq. Not only this, he unilaterally pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, which served as a shameful slap in the face of the Europeans.

This is all of course absurd. Recent events on the ground in Iraq have shown that President Bush was right and the Europeans, specifically France and Germany, were wrong. In regards to the Kyoto Protocol, President Bush was absolutely right to pull out of it, for it would unfairly hurt American businesses while leaving those in Europe untouched. God forbid that the president of the United States actually look out for America's interests.

No, if anything it is the Europeans who need to do the "fence mending". Better yet, if they really want to improve relations they need to do some serious self-reflection, for it is their loss of moral clarity that has truly done harm to the trans-Atlantic alliance. From the lead up to war in Iraq until now, many in Europe have snubbed their nose at our efforts in Iraq, condescendingly opposing and undermining the very same actions we are taking in Iraq that freed them from Hitler's control sixty years ago. Enjoying all their full freedoms, they have had the audacity to say that others are not ready or can't be free.

Even worse, they based much of their opposition to Saddam's ouster on the profits they were bringing in under Saddam. This lack of moral clarity has shown itself time and time again over the last couple of years. It is a lack of moral clarity that leads someone to decry all the civilian deaths in Iraq while just a few years prior looking the other way as Saddam murdered his own people. Because of this the president can be forgiven for not exactly taking what these people advise to heart.

Our relationship with Europe will never be what it used to be until all of this changes. President Bush can make nice with Chirac and Schroeder all he wants, but until these leaders and their countries fully align themselves on the side of freedom they will have little use to us. It is Europe, not the president, that has some fence mending to do.