A caricature of President George W. Bush is seen in the center of Brussels during a protest against Bush's visit to Belgium in February 2005. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
2000s:
When George W. Bush took over the White House in 2001, his administration quickly made clear that Clinton's collegial approach to Europe was over, and that the United States would go its own way as the planet's dominant superpower. Bush soon turned his back on the Kyoto agreement on measures to curb global warming, the International Criminal Court, a global ban on land mines and the 1972 antiballistic missile ban that the U.S. had signed with the Soviet Union.
European ill feelings toward an American leader that many regarded as an arrogant cowboy promptly dissolved when New York City and Washington, D.C., were attacked by al Qaeda terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. Across Europe, there was a surge of pro-American sympathy, and intelligence and law enforcement agencies across the continent helped the Americans track down members of al Qaeda. When Bush mounted an attack upon al Qaeda's base in Afghanistan in late 2001, France and Germany not only backed the move but contributed troops to the occupation force.
But the warm feelings faded when Bush began pressing in the fall of 2002 for military action against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. In addition to traditional U.S.military ally Great Britain, governments in Spain, Italy, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands chose to join Bush's "coalition of the willing," as did former communist nations Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. To the Bush administration's irritation, major military powers Germany and France both opposed the war.
While European leaders were divided, public opinion across the continent was solidly against Bush. Had Germans been able to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, for example, Bush's opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., would have won 74 percent of their votes, according to one poll. When Bush visited Berlin in February 2005 to meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, 10,000 police were deployed to thwart protesters. If the U.S. ultimately is successful in establishing a stable regime in Iraq and accomplishing Bush's avowed mission of spreading democracy throughout the Middle East, European opposition to Bush may fade. But if Bush falls short, it's likely that voices in Europe will become all the more clamorous.
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