Howard Stands Up for Bush
Charles Johnson
Sun Jan 30, 2005 at 2:13 pm PST • Views: 167
Here’s to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who leapt to the defense of President George W. Bush when he was tediously attacked by international leaders at the World Economic Forum: Howard stands up for Bush. (Hat tip: Beyond Wallacia.)
In Mr Bush’s absence from the annual meeting of political and business heavyweights, his stance on Iraq has been criticised by many leaders, particularly from Europe.
“I think some of the criticism of the Americans by some of the Europeans is unfair and irrational and I have said so,” Mr Howard said.
He said so in a forthright manner during one debate on US global relations in which he grew increasingly disenchanted with the tone of the argument against the war and criticism of Mr Bush’s recent inauguration speech in which he did not mention Iraq.
“Can I just say, I mean, the negative mindset of the last five minutes is ridiculous - of course America has made mistakes and of course there will be modifications of policy,” Mr Howard interjected during the debate.
He said the critics had misinterpreted Mr Bush’s speech and told them the US president would not be altering his stance.
“I don’t think there will be fundamental changes in American policy over the next four years,” he said.
The non-attendance of Mr Bush or any of his senior administrators at the Swiss summit, which has attracted 2500 political and business leaders, has been seen as a snub by many in the forum.
Mr Howard said Mr Bush had plenty of support and denied the world was adopting an anti-Bush stance.
Frank says: