t r u t h o u t - European Press: Bush in Denial

t r u t h o u t - European Press: Bush in Denial:

"London - The editorial cartoon in The Times of London on Wednesday was derisive: the first panel showed President Bush telling the United Nations General Assembly, 'Friends, our policy in Iraq is directed solely towards a successful election.'

The second panel had him saying which election: 'Mine.'

European newspapers, including some that supported the American military campaign in Iraq, were largely critical of Mr. Bush's address on Tuesday to the United Nations, accusing him of being unrealistic about the worsening situation in Iraq.

The Financial Times contended in its lead editorial that the Bush administration 'systematically refused to engage with what actually has happened in Iraq' - namely, in the newspaper's view, that American policy 'mistakes' had 'handed the initiative to jihadi terrorists' who 'now have a new base from which to challenge the West and moderate Islam.'

The newspaper said that Mr. Bush's Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, 'after being evasive, long-winded and sometimes contradictory,' was beginning to speak more realistically than Mr. Bush about the deterioration of security in Iraq. And, the newspaper asserted, Mr. Bush's 'disengagement from the reality of a sinking Iraq is alarming.'

The left-leaning Independent of Britain carried an editorial cartoon of Osama bin Laden putting up a Bush campaign poster saying '4 More Years' on a shell-pocked bit of masonry in Iraq. The cartoon seemed to be inspired by a diplomatic spat over remarks attributed to the British ambassador to Italy, Sir Ivor Roberts. After a private discussion on policy that was supposed to be off the record, Sir Ivor was quoted by an Italian newspaper as saying that Mr. Bush had become 'the best recruiting sergeant' "

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