Chip Unruh, Deputy Press Secretary
Office of Senator Joseph Biden
221 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
February 7, 2003
Dear Mr. Unruh:
Thank you very much for sending the transcript of Senator Biden‚s remarks. Upon reading through it, I must say I was quite taken aback by the following statement: “[T]here is another letter coming today -- the following countries have supported us going in without a U.N. resolution: Spain, U.K., Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, today Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia.”
This is a serious misrepresentation of the actual position of these countries. Specifically, with respect to the ten countries in the Vilnius group, all except Romania have repeatedly affirmed their support for the U.N. process, and would acquiesce to (though for the most part not actively participate in) U.S. action only in the event of a second U.N. resolution. For now, most of these countries are aligned with France in favoring the continuation of inspections over the use of military force.
The actual statement from the Vilnius group, as you probably know by now, reads as follows:
Statement by the Foreign Ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia:
Earlier today, the United States presented compelling evidence to the United Nations Security Council detailing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, its active efforts to deceive UN inspectors, and its links to international terrorism.
Our countries understand the dangers posed by tyranny and the special responsibility of democracies to defend our shared values. The trans-Atlantic community, of which we are a part, must stand together to face the threat posed by the nexus of terrorism and dictators with weapons of mass destruction.
We have actively supported the international efforts to achieve a peaceful disarmament of Iraq. However, it has now become clear that Iraq is in material breach of U.N. Security Council Resolutions, including U.N. Resolution 1441, passed unanimously on November 8, 2002. As our governments said on the occasion of the NATO Summit in Prague: “We support the goal of the international community for full disarmament of Iraq as stipulated in the UN Security Council Resolution 1441. In the event of non-compliance with the terms of this resolution, we are prepared to contribute to an international coalition to enforce its provisions and the disarmament of Iraq.”
The clear and present danger posed by the Saddam Hussein's regime requires a united response from the community of democracies. We call upon the U.N. Security Council to take the necessary and appropriate action in response to Iraq's continuing threat to international peace and security.
As you can see, nowhere is there any mention of support for unilateral military intervention by the United States. Senator Biden’s statement is thus based on false information; in the interests of public accuracy, I urge his office to issue a correction.
Moreover, it is worth noting that the domestic reaction to the statement by the Vilnius group has been very negative in many of these countries. For example, in Slovenia, where I normally reside, and where I continue to monitor developments through the media and personal contacts, the government has been harshly criticized for signing the Vilnius statement. Reputable Slovene commentators assert that the text was prepared by the U.S. State Department two days before the presentation of Secretary Powel’s “compelling” evidence, which completely undermines the statement’s credibility. Slovenes also complain that Washington is treating Slovenia like “a banana republic,” and using the Vilnius group of countries as a “Trojan horse” to assert American interests in Europe while dividing and weakening the EU.
Not surprisingly, Slovenes want no part of this. A petition is currently circulating which calls on the government to withdraw Slovenia”s signature from the document. Moreover, Slovenes are increasingly motivated to reject NATO membership in a forthcoming referendum, in large part because most Slovenes find the foreign policy of NATO’s leading member, the United States, unacceptable. The impending U.S. invasion of Iraq is only the most recent and prominent example.
Dissatisfaction is also growing in Slovakia, where opponents of NATO membership already outnumber supporters, and where, in contrast to their government’s glib promises, only 11.6 percent of the population actually supports the deployment of Slovak troops in a possible military action against Iraq. In Hungary, 82 percent of the public are opposed to a unilateral attack on Iraq; approval rises to only one-third should there be a U.N. resolution approving the use of force. Hungarians are also deeply unhappy about the use of the Taszar military base for the training of Iraqi oppositionists.
On a related note, there has also been a domestic backlash to the letter of support from eight European nations published January 30th in the Wall Street Journal. As you know, the editors of The Wall Street Journal solicited a public statement of support for the U.S. from Prime Ministers Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and Jose María Aznar of Spain. These two men then invited President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy of Hungary, and Prime Minister Leszek Miller of Poland, among others, to add their signatures. The statement made a huge impact nationwide, as Americans were presented with a reassuring image of a ‘new’ Europe “on our side,” with France and Germany the odd ones out. However, the following relevant facts received virtually no attention in the U.S. media:
- After the publication of the letter, Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said that he had been invited to sign but had declined. Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda further stated that by signing the letter, Mr. Havel was expressing a personal opinion, not the position of the Czech government.
- In Hungary, former Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticized Mr. Medgyessy for signing what he called a “harmful” letter, while Zsolt Nemeth, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, called it “a servile and irresponsible act," and called for Mr. Medgyessy to appear before the committee to explain his actions.
- Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller was reproached by Parliament for “overstepping his authority” in signing the letter. Leopold Unger of the major Polish daily Gazeta Wyborca characterized the letter as “wordy, banal, and written in the style of Soviet resolutions.” He predicted that it would have no effect on world opinion, since it was intended purely for American consumption in order to project an image of a “mythical coalition, based on Rumsfeld’s theory about old and new Europe.”
- Public opinion throughout all the countries of ‘new’ Europe is just as in ‘old’ Europe - overwhelmingly opposed to war in Iraq. The only exception is Romania, a staunch U.S. ally but hardly a leading light of the region. (And even in Romania support for war is only 45 percent.) For a useful survey, I recommend the following report:
http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2003/02/07022003192525.asp
Senator Biden’s colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Richard Lugar, seems to be suffering from similar illusions about the level of European support for a U.S.-led war in Iraq. He recently posted the following comment on his website:
"The coalition is building. For example, 10 European countries have written to the world and published the fact that France and Germany don't speak for them. Europe is for the United States, and that is a very important point. The French and the Germans are left by themselves for the moment.”
In a similar vein, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer has offered thanks to “the 10 nations of Eastern Europe that issued a statement yesterday in support of the United States' effort to disarm Iraq,” and claimed that the people of Eastern Europe “stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of the United States.” Well, I suppose that last bit is true, if we interpret it to mean that Eastern Europeans, like many millions of Americans, stand firm in their opposition to war.
Are the White House and Senators Biden and Lugar deliberately misleading Congress and the American public by presenting such a false image of Europe? Or are they merely insufficiently informed about the actual situation in the countries mentioned?
I prefer to think the latter, and I therefore hope they will make every effort to improve their knowledge and correct their erroneous perceptions before making any further public pronouncements on the subject.
Sincerely,
Jean McCollister
