Europe gives cold shoulder to Bush’s Iraq plan

Europe gives cold shoulder to Bush’s Iraq plan
Ally Britain wishes it well, but says it won’t be sending more troops


‘Stubborn president’
In Sweden, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Bush’s speech lacked any new political ideas, and in Denmark, a key opposition politician put blame for the Iraq quagmire squarely at the feet of the U.S. president.

“George W. Bush lives in his own world,” said Helle Thorning-Schmidt, leader of Denmark’s Social Democrats. “We are dealing with a stubborn president who continues with an uncertain strategy for Iraq’s future.”

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the solution for Iraq, beyond Bush’s troop increase, is “the participation of all civilian, political and religious elements in Iraqi society.

“It is through a comprehensive approach, through a political strategy, that Iraq and the whole region will regain their stability,” Douste-Blazy said in a carefully worded statement.

France was one of the main critics of Bush’s push to invade Iraq in 2003............


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16576297/