Golly. When Iain’s friend lays it all out like that, I kind of feel like a heel. I didn’t know (or remember) the bit about Blair begging for exemption from the steel quotas, but as I hated those things from the outset, that makes me even more peeved about them.

While I assume there are two sides to the story behind some of those complaints, generally speaking it sounds like Iain’s friend is more right than wrong — and I think it’s a damn shame. Britain — and Australia — are and always have been our most reliable military allies. They are our friends, and to the extent the word works in this context, our relatives, culturally and historically speaking. If it turns out that Bush has seriously wounded our relationship with Britain, I think it will stand against him horribly in the history books. But I haven’t followed the issue closely enough to give an informed opinion if he has.

Still, this reminds me of how, just before 9/11, I was in London wrapping up my honeymoon. Bush was courting Mexico and made all sorts of noises which prompted many British papers and TV news types to ask whether this meant the end of the special relationship. The Telegraph’s headline: “U.S. special relationship switched to Mexico.” Its Washington correspondent wrote:

“Mr. Bush was using language more often associated with Britain, which most members of the U.S. armed forces and the majority of those in Congress still regard as America’s principal ally,” wrote the paper’s Washington correspondent.
The paper noted that President Reagan’s first official dinner was with then British PM Margaret Thatcher and one of President Clinton’s first guests was the then PM John Major.
Britain’s Press Association pointed out that it was Bush’s fifth meeting with the Mexican leader since being elected president — his first foreign visit being … to Mexico.

I remember after 9/11 always saying that one of the biggest losers on 9/11 was Mexico because it reminded the White House that it’s most important ally was not to the south but across the Atlantic. Now, in retrospect I wonder if 9/11 really brought that message home.

On a side note, I think it would be a very interesting talking point for a Republican presidential primary contender to take up. It would be a way to remain pro-war on terror while criticizing Bush’s foreign policy, particularly in regard to Mexico. My guess is that GOP primary voters dig the special relationship with Britain and would eat up talk about American and Britain side-by-side against the forces of darkness — and we know how they feel about our current “special relationship” with Mexico.