February 03, 2003

Please check out these 2 riveting op eds in today's WSJ Opinion Journal on how that "United We Stand" from the "New Europe" leaders published last week came into being (Hint: WSJ reporter Michael Gonzalez called Berlusconi of Italy's office and they called Aznar of Spain and they both called Tony Blair....) Read them both!
"The Op-Ed Alliance:
The Wall Street Journal stands accused of committing journalism. We plead guilty."
Catch the last graph of their mea culpa:

We admit to committing journalism. And if our critics want to accuse these pages of having so much clout that we can dictate policy to eight European heads of state, we will humbly accept.

"Our Statement:
Reports of anti-Americanism have been greatly exaggerated."
The enterprising Mr. Gonzalez concludes the piece on the statement's conception thusly:

Our motives were entirely journalistic. I'd just come back from the States and one of the things that struck me was how misinformed Americans are about European support. Many Americans had been convinced by Bush opponents and some on the right that Europeans hate the U.S. I hope the statement we printed informed Americans that European "anti-Americanism" has been exaggerated. The leaders who signed it took a stand on principle, but as politicians they're attuned to political currents in their countries. We can only assume that they were speaking on behalf of their electorates.

And I would expand this conclusion about the non-existence of "widespread anti-Americanism" to include not only Europe, but the rest of the world.

Apparently, the only misstep in this whole episode was that Bernie Ahern, PM of Ireland, stated that he would have signed it as well, but that no-one asked him!