"In a new century, the alliance of America and Europe is the main pillar of our security," — President George W. Bush, Brussels, February 21, 2005

Seeing our graceful new Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dancing her diplomatic minuet in Paris reminds me of a Woody Allen story about Sigmund Freud's most neurotic patient. After years of wrestling with this man's demented soul, Freud finally decided to call an end to the therapy. So he declared his patient to be cured and sane. Except for one little thing ——— Freud would never turn his back to him. Europe is like that. Americans would like to think that Europeans are our good friends, but can we really turn our back on them without getting that itchy feeling between our shoulder blades?

We know today that Colin Powell was set—up by Jacques Chirac in the run—up to the Iraq invasion. Powell was fed forged documents claiming that Saddam attempted to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger. He cited them in his speech at the UN, and was deeply embarrassed the following day when 'European secret services' revealed them to be forgeries.
 
Now we know those fakes came from our good friends, the French. The Telegraph of London gave the story away last September:
 
'Agent behind fake uranium documents worked for France
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
(filed 19/09/2004)
 
'The Italian businessman at the centre of a furious row between France and Italy over whose intelligence service was to blame for bogus documents suggesting Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy material for nuclear bombs has admitted that he was in the pay of France. ... The man, identified by an Italian news agency as Rocco Martino (code—named 'Giacomo') ... His admission to investigating magistrates in Rome on Friday apparently confirms suggestions that — by commissioning "Giacomo" to procure and circulate documents — France was responsible for some of the information later used by Britain and the United States to promote the case for war with Iraq.'
 
What was the point of hiring old Rocco the Spy to pass those fake documents? Just the famous French sense of fun? It's not hard to understand. By undermining Powell's public case against Saddam, France whipped up unprecedented European hatred of America. Splitting the Atlantic alliance has been a major French policy goal for fifty years. Chirac's UN deception convinced Europe that 'Bush lied' about invading Iraq. Even the British now rage against us, as  Britain is being pulled ever deeper into the Franco—German axis. The Anglo—American alliance has been shaken to the core.  
 
Just after the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers, Karl Zinsmeister reported a speech by a German professor and reserve colonel named Reiner Pommerin at an EU meeting. Pommerin declared in public, 'Thank God we had the 11th of September!" For, as Zinsmeister reports,  'this showed the U.S. how it feels to be humbled. Herr professor—colonel went on to suggest that Americans often feel nostalgic for the "good old days of slavery in the nineteenth century." Zinsmeister doesn't tell us whether colonel had a Kaiser mustache, or whether his monocle popped out in the heat of the moment, but we can fill in the dots. 
 
And as Zinsmeister pointed out, '... despite being highly unpopular for his economic failures, Chancellor Schröder scrambled back into Germany's top office (in the 2002 election) ———by planting his feet firmly on Uncle Sam's face.' It was an historic moment:  the first time in fifty years that a German Chancellor had employed the old gambit of scapegoating foreigners ——— this time America. It succeeded wildly.

Even while Condi Rice was in Europe, the EU  was planning to  lift its arms embargo against China. Jacques Chirac flew to Beijing to sell stealth aircraft to China a few months ago, knowing that the Red Army has some 600 short—range missiles aimed at Taiwan. Against those bombers, the Taiwanese may be helpless. In the last Taiwan crisis the US had to interpose naval ships in the Straits, placing our ships in mortal danger to keep the peace. High—tech European arms could easily destabilize that fragile balance. This is a classic old  Great Power gambit, to arm the enemy of your enemy. It is how the Kaiser knocked out Russia in 1917. Now the US military is forced plan for a two—front war, one in Iraq, the other in the Pacific. Merci beaucoup, our European friends.
 
So while the American media go all moist and fuzzy about Europe's willingness to forgive our sins, I would just ask one question: What European allies?