I couldn't agree more with Mr. Prodi:
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aFPkEAF5Dilk&refer=europe
March 21 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S.-led conflict in Iraq has hindered efforts by the United States, European nations, and other countries to crush terrorist networks, European Commission President Romano Prodi said.
``I don't agree with the analysis that the situation in the war against terrorism is better because of the war in Iraq,'' Prodi told ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``Clearly it is not.''
European nations still recognize the need for a united effort against terrorism, Prodi said, and U.S.-European relations are better today than they were at the start of the Iraq war a year ago.
The deaths of 202 people in the bombings of four rush-hour trains March 11 in Madrid has highlighted disagreements between Europe and the U.S.
Spanish Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose Socialist Party won national elections three days after the bombings, plans to withdraw 1,300 troops from Iraq unless the U.S. cedes control of the operation to the United Nations. U.S. President George W. Bush said last week that Iraq is a central front in the war against terrorists, and the ouster of Saddam Hussein put a ``sponsor of terror out of business.''
``Don't confuse terrorism with the Iraqi war, they are two different items,'' Prodi, 63, said. ``If you confuse the two things, it would be a disaster.''
Trans-Atlantic Differences
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who led opposition to the Iraq conflict at the United Nations, told Le Monde newspaper Thursday the invasion ``has not made the world safer.'' Instead, the 50-year-old diplomat said, it made Iraq a ``world center of terrorism.''
While Europe and the U.S. differ over an anti-terrorism strategy, trans-Atlantic relations ``are a lot better than a year ago,'' Prodi said. ``We are all under attack and we behave with a joint action because of that.''
U.S. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who was interviewed separately on the Fox program, said the U.S.-European alliance against terrorism may be strengthened as a result of the bombings in Spain.
``After this initial reaction, I think that the Europeans may be more inclined to work with us because those attacks showed that no one's safe,'' McCain, 67, said.
`One-Sided Diplomacy'
Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, said the current divide between the U.S. and Europe is the result of ``one- sided diplomacy'' pursued by the Bush administration.
``I am afraid that there are some in Europe who are allowing their anger at the Bush foreign policy to blind them to the fact that we are all enemies of al-Qaeda, we are all, in that sense, citizens of Madrid, and we all must join together,'' Lieberman, 62, said on the Fox program.
Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, who is supporting Senator John Kerry's Democratic presidential campaign against Bush, also blamed the Bush administration for shaking traditional U.S. allies.
``This administration was superb in winning the war, had no postwar policy, and now the policy is in shambles and it cannot be put together unless we have new leadership that can have the confidence and trust of the international community,'' Kennedy, 72, said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program.
Political Effects
Bush has made the war on terrorism a major issue in his re- election campaign. Kerry says the president exaggerated the threat of Iraq's arsenal to justify an invasion and left U.S. forces overextended by failing to muster sufficient international support. The U.S. election is Nov. 2.
In a poll published yesterday by Newsweek magazine, 57 percent of 1,006 U.S. adults surveyed nationwide said the U.S. took the right action in attacking Iraq, compared with 37 percent who disagreed. The same poll, taken March 18-19, found Kerry and Bush tied with 48 percent support each in a head-to-head contest.
European nations Friday agreed to appoint a ``counter- terrorism coordinator'' as part of plans for more security cooperation after the Madrid attacks.
The European Union's 15 members said they may create a common register of criminals, give national police forces more freedom to cross borders when in ``hot pursuit'' and upgrade databases for tracing explosives.
The union also pledged common rules for the retention of phone-traffic data, aid for each other in case of terrorist attacks and the enactment of agreement on, for instance, extradition procedures and money laundering. EU heads of government and state will assess the plans at a March 25-26 meeting.
The Madrid bombings may have been carried out by al-Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S., or an affiliated organization, Spanish and U.S. authorities have said. Police in Spain have arrested 10 suspects, including three Moroccans, two Indians and a Spaniard, in connection with the attacks.
The bombings have exposed the political and logistical challenges that the EU faces in providing for common security. The union is due to expand in May to 25 members.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aFPkEAF5Dilk&refer=europe
March 21 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S.-led conflict in Iraq has hindered efforts by the United States, European nations, and other countries to crush terrorist networks, European Commission President Romano Prodi said.
``I don't agree with the analysis that the situation in the war against terrorism is better because of the war in Iraq,'' Prodi told ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``Clearly it is not.''
European nations still recognize the need for a united effort against terrorism, Prodi said, and U.S.-European relations are better today than they were at the start of the Iraq war a year ago.
The deaths of 202 people in the bombings of four rush-hour trains March 11 in Madrid has highlighted disagreements between Europe and the U.S.
Spanish Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose Socialist Party won national elections three days after the bombings, plans to withdraw 1,300 troops from Iraq unless the U.S. cedes control of the operation to the United Nations. U.S. President George W. Bush said last week that Iraq is a central front in the war against terrorists, and the ouster of Saddam Hussein put a ``sponsor of terror out of business.''
``Don't confuse terrorism with the Iraqi war, they are two different items,'' Prodi, 63, said. ``If you confuse the two things, it would be a disaster.''
Trans-Atlantic Differences
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who led opposition to the Iraq conflict at the United Nations, told Le Monde newspaper Thursday the invasion ``has not made the world safer.'' Instead, the 50-year-old diplomat said, it made Iraq a ``world center of terrorism.''
While Europe and the U.S. differ over an anti-terrorism strategy, trans-Atlantic relations ``are a lot better than a year ago,'' Prodi said. ``We are all under attack and we behave with a joint action because of that.''
U.S. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who was interviewed separately on the Fox program, said the U.S.-European alliance against terrorism may be strengthened as a result of the bombings in Spain.
``After this initial reaction, I think that the Europeans may be more inclined to work with us because those attacks showed that no one's safe,'' McCain, 67, said.
`One-Sided Diplomacy'
Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, said the current divide between the U.S. and Europe is the result of ``one- sided diplomacy'' pursued by the Bush administration.
``I am afraid that there are some in Europe who are allowing their anger at the Bush foreign policy to blind them to the fact that we are all enemies of al-Qaeda, we are all, in that sense, citizens of Madrid, and we all must join together,'' Lieberman, 62, said on the Fox program.
Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, who is supporting Senator John Kerry's Democratic presidential campaign against Bush, also blamed the Bush administration for shaking traditional U.S. allies.
``This administration was superb in winning the war, had no postwar policy, and now the policy is in shambles and it cannot be put together unless we have new leadership that can have the confidence and trust of the international community,'' Kennedy, 72, said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program.
Political Effects
Bush has made the war on terrorism a major issue in his re- election campaign. Kerry says the president exaggerated the threat of Iraq's arsenal to justify an invasion and left U.S. forces overextended by failing to muster sufficient international support. The U.S. election is Nov. 2.
In a poll published yesterday by Newsweek magazine, 57 percent of 1,006 U.S. adults surveyed nationwide said the U.S. took the right action in attacking Iraq, compared with 37 percent who disagreed. The same poll, taken March 18-19, found Kerry and Bush tied with 48 percent support each in a head-to-head contest.
European nations Friday agreed to appoint a ``counter- terrorism coordinator'' as part of plans for more security cooperation after the Madrid attacks.
The European Union's 15 members said they may create a common register of criminals, give national police forces more freedom to cross borders when in ``hot pursuit'' and upgrade databases for tracing explosives.
The union also pledged common rules for the retention of phone-traffic data, aid for each other in case of terrorist attacks and the enactment of agreement on, for instance, extradition procedures and money laundering. EU heads of government and state will assess the plans at a March 25-26 meeting.
The Madrid bombings may have been carried out by al-Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S., or an affiliated organization, Spanish and U.S. authorities have said. Police in Spain have arrested 10 suspects, including three Moroccans, two Indians and a Spaniard, in connection with the attacks.
The bombings have exposed the political and logistical challenges that the EU faces in providing for common security. The union is due to expand in May to 25 members.
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