High ideals, few specifics
Call for resolve said to not alter views
LONDON -- President Bush yesterday delivered what was widely viewed as a powerful call for resolve in the war on terrorism and in transforming the Middle East, but to many British and European observers, it sounded like a sermon Bush has preached before.
And if -- as senior White House officials told reporters before his arrival -- a goal of this historic state visit was to reintroduce Bush to Britain and the rest of Europe and erase the caricature of him as a unilateralist cowboy, then, analysts here say, the speech fell short.
Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, a London-based think tank, said Bush did little to change perceptions.
"It was the same message we've heard. He has not given Europeans much reason to believe that he is leaving behind the cowboy, gun-slinging approach," Grant said. "The speech still had that moralistic and preachy tone."
Bush took good-humored but predictable swipes at the French in particular and at European critics of US policy in the Middle East in general. He spoke of the United States and Britain's shared belief in free markets, but skirted the red-hot issue of American-imposed steel tariffs that economic analysts believe could touch off a trade war between the United States and Europe.
The speech was long on the ideals of democracy and freedom that the coalition intends to bring to Iraq. But it was short on specifics about how to address the rapidly deteriorating security situation and what policies the coalition should employ to avoid a long, bloody occupation.
"Whatever has come before, we now have only two options: To keep our word or to break our word," Bush said. "Failure of democracy in Iraq would throw its people back into misery and turn that country over to terrorists who wish to destroy us."
Bush emphasized the need to strengthen the United Nations and and NATO. But from a European perspective, such statements cut against the reality of his administration's actions in defying these institutions, especially the United Nations, when they stand in the way of its intentions.
Georges Le Guelte, director of the Paris-based Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris, said, "There was no indication whatsoever in a change in policy -- and that is what is worrying. He is still focused on the war against terrorism and is still in the same mind-set which has led to the mistakes and failures thus far." As Bush relied on broad themes and avoided the hard questions about US policy that many Europeans have said they want answered, he also steered clear of the protests.
The president canceled what was to be his only public appearance -- at Grosvenor Square, near the US Embassy, where he intended to meet with British families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The meeting was moved inside the heavily fortified embassy, officials said, because of security concerns.
Bush has also chosen to forgo the traditional address to Parliament, sparing him from a raucous body with strong voices opposed to the war in Iraq and eager to challenge him on US policy in the Middle East.
In a custom Cadillac outfitted with steel plates 5 inches thick, Bush was driven along a wide boulevard draped with US and British flags and flanked by sharpshooters. An unprecedented security operation kept the route cleared of people.
When Bush arrived, he spoke to an invitation-only audience. Even among this friendly crowd, there were several moments of awkward silence after Bush's pauses. When the applause did come, it seemed, well, polite.
The isolation of Bush from the people of this country stood in contrast to the actions of the last American president to sleep in Buckingham Palace. That visit was in 1918, when Woodrow Wilson visited London in the immediate aftermath of World War I. Wilson mingled openly with cheering crowds in London that lauded America and its leader for making the world safe for democracy.
It was a different time, certainly. But the perception of the United States among the British public is profoundly different.
Opinion polls here suggest a respect for the US-UK relationship and a polite recognition that Bush should feel welcome. But the polls also indicate a growing unease among the British public about the role and the intentions of the United States as the world's sole superpower.
Not only political analysts, but protesters on the street seem eager to alert Americans to this deepening divide. Shane Betts, 28, who works for a London power company and was among the protesters pushed back by police yesterday, said: "We know Bush won't see us. But we hope the American people see us. Americans need to know just how dangerous we believe this man is."
Sue Leech, 53, a mother of two children from Cornwall, came to London to attend a protest march, even if she stood safely on its periphery.
"The British people are not anti-American, not at all. I'm just an ordinary British person, a mother, but I really feel strongly that Americans should listen to what most of the rest of the world is saying," she said. "He is presenting America as an imperialist enterprise, and I don't think Americans see their country that way."
Material from Reuters was included in this report. Sennott can be reached at sennott@globe.com. 