Europe is a eunuch

Max Hastings, former editor of the Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard, says so in The Guardian

For me this typifies one of the reasons why many Europeans, Britain's and many in the British press attack America.

Poor Max whines and wails so much you would think he had just been castrated.

Having read and written too many history books, Max bemoans the good old days when Britain ruled the waves and the world. He makes no bones about his jealousy of America and since he can't have her and his current lover isn't up to the task he calls for "creating credible European armed forces". Just don't invite Spain.

Rather than use facts, Max results to name calling and mud slinging - a sure sign you have no argument.

Overtaken on the motorway by a motorcycle weaving between lanes at reckless speed, we glance at the rider and mutter something about bloody fools. Curiosity focuses upon the pillion passenger. Is he or she enjoying this? Is it not ridiculous to put one's life absolutely in the hands of a reckless idiot? In other words: how does it feel to be Tony Blair in Iraq?

Max doesn't stop there. He goes after the US military as well.

"... But Britain's 8,000 troops on the ground noticed, and are not happy. They are prisoners of an American command whose incompetence is manifest, whose soldiers are unsuited to their task, whose failures of policy have been laid bare."

Prisoners, Max? Do settle down dear boy. I'm sure we can arrange a prisoner exchange program. Now who would you give in return?

"American command whose incompetence is manifest", Max? Now how far back to you want to go on this one Max? 1776, WWII, Vietnam (oops), The Balkans, Afghanistan and now Iraq. How fast and with how few casualties was that one won Max? The US just can't win with you guys, eh Max? If the US stays at home she is an isolationist and if she intervenes she is an empire builder.

"Unsuited" "Failures", all name calling Max. The facts are otherwise. Falluja and Najaf are a small part of Iraq and while they are flash points, news of late seem to indicate things are in hand. Notice Sadr has been asked by the local Mullahs in Najaf to lay down his arms. The peace was never going to be easy but it will come because the Iraqis desire it.

It might be that Iraq will become the final test of will between the US, Syria, Iran and others. For they have to stop the US here and now. If the regional terrorists lose this one democracy will prevail in the entire Middle East and end their dream of an Islamic dominated world.

Somehow, the world, in general, and the British, in particular, have to consider anew our relationship with the power of the US, granted the less-than-godlike nature of most of the presidents elected to exercise it.

Sorry Max, we don't elect gods and we don't believe in royal blood lines either.

Jim Steinburg, former deputy national security adviser to President Clinton, remarked to me a few months ago that for the cautious Clinton, policy-making was an intellectual game. "He'd try something, see how it played, push on if it seemed to work, pull back if it looked rough or the polls went wrong." The contrast with George Bush could not be more striking. He and his associates are driven by a set of primitive visceral convictions, from which they refuse to be budged by persuasion or evidence.

That's right Max, Clinton couldn't make a decision. That is why the world is in the shape it is today. As far as "cautious" Clinton, having oral sex in the White House is hardly cautious.

"persuasion or evidence" Max? Four jet liners loaded with fuel and aimed at the White House, Pentagon and the Twin Towers was pretty persuasive for most people Max.

Here are some clues as to where Max is coming from.

"... Bush's misnamed "war on terror", by highlighting US double standards towards Israel and Islam" and "We could press Bush to seek international legitimacy, to behave more even-handedly towards the Palestinians."

Max, Max, Max people have long seen through that "linking" smokescreen. Palestinians have vowed that Israel has no right to exist and their continued terror proves they have no intention of changing. The Palestinian issue was linked to the war on terror by bin Laden; a link the Palestinians themselves keep trying to distance from.

Until we address this, and against the background of a struggle against international terrorism that is likely to grow more alarming rather than less, America remains the indispensable ally and shield. That means George Bush. At the very moment when most of us feel surfeited with the president's vacuous grin and impregnable moral conceit, we cannot walk away from his follies unless or until Europe makes itself something quite different from the eunuch it is today.

Anybody know what "surfeited" means? I had to look it up. Anyway it seems poor Max has run out of ammunition and now attacks Bush's smile and morals. How can you have too much of either?