Bush: German beer worth a little diplomacy

After Bush’s speech to the United Nations assembly on Wednesday, critics of the military action in Iraq such as President Jacques Chirac of France clapped politely. After Chirac presented his speech, however, it was hard to judge Bush’s reaction considering he had already left.

While I don’t personally know what Bush had on his schedule that was more important than Chirac’s speech, I’m left wondering how any of our foreign relations remain intact.

On the other side of things, last week Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had their first formal meeting in 16 months and some agreements have been made. "We have had differences and they are over and we're going to work together," Bush said. "Differences have been left behind," added Schroeder. "We both agree that we want to look into the future together."

It’s great to hear some good news about foreign policy. This is a definite step in the right direction. Whether one agrees with the unilateral approach to the war in Iraq or not, few will argue that being in agreement with our one-time European allies is nice. Imagine how much more effective we could be building up Iraq again if the resources of more than one nation are used!

Perhaps the best thing that could come out of this is a peacekeeping force not primarily made up of Americans. While joint peacekeeping operations have had mixed success in areas like Somalia and Afghanistan, chances are good that Iraqis will be less likely to fight a temporary occupying force if it’s made up of people who weren’t directly responsible for killing people they knew.

While Bush made it that the U.S. will remain in control of the reconstruction, he has been accommodating in the sense that he has invited other nations to help. While this could be looked at as a belittling offer, even France, one of the strongest opponents of the military action in Iraq, has said it is in favor of a joint effort in reconstruction.

Now if Bush would be willing to sit through other leaders’ speeches at U.N. meetings like others do for him, who knows what kind of rifts could be overcome between countries.