The Times U.K.
Bush rhetoric worries U.K.
By Hasan Suroor

LONDON FEB. 4. The U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush's remarks denouncing Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil" have raised concern here over Washington's plans for the so-called "phase II" of its war against terrorism, and prompted calls for a more a "robust" British approach to what is seen as American "sabre-rattling".

The British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, who was in America when Mr. Bush made the remarks in his State of the Union address last week, sneeringly dubbed them as electoral posturing ahead of Congressional elections, and here at home critics attacked American policy makers for indulging in "unnecessarily aggressive" rhetoric. "The `axis of evil' is a memorable phrase, but not a coherent strategy," one leading commentator pointed out in The Times warning of the dangers of America's "war" mentality. There is a growing view that Britain should draw a line beyond which it would not be dragged into American plans, and should stop playing the "poodle".

Mr. Straw's assertion that the U.S. President's speech was "best understood by the fact that there are mid-term Congressional elections coming up in November" has provoked an angry reaction from his hosts. They described his statement as "inappropriate", and the row escalated at the weekend when Mr. Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice retorted that "this is not about American politics, and I assume when the British Government speaks about foreign policy, it's not about British politics."

The British media has played up Mr. Straw's attempt to "mock" Mr. Bush's remarks, with one newspaper saying they amounted to accusing the U.S. President of "playing party politics with the war on terrorism". While there has been no official comment, Foreign Office sources have been quoted as saying that they are deeply concerned by what they see as hawkish posturing. There has been a particularly sharp reaction to Mr. Bush's denunciation of Iran whom Britain has been keen to cultivate as an ally in the current campaign against terrorism.

Observers recalled that within weeks of the start of the campaign, the Prime Minister, Tony Blair despatched Mr. Straw to Teheran as part of his diplomatic initiative to get the Muslim world's support for the anti-terror coalition. They fear that by clubbing Iran with Iraq and North Korea Washington risks weakening, even alienating, the moderates in Teheran who want to work with the West in fighting terrorism. "Privately British officials were dismayed by the decision to name Iran in the speech because some diplomatic progress has been made with the regime in Teheran," according to a report in The Times.

Mr. Straw himself made clear that he did not buy the Bush doctrine on Iran, and instead shared the more moderate assessment of the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell. At his press conference he said: "As far as I am concerned the relationship we have enables us to have very frank conversations with Iran. Overall our position about Iran is as Colin Powell expressed it yesterday: an appreciation for the role of the reformist Government...at the same time we are all concerned that parts of the Iranian authorities appear to be involved in supporting terrorist organisations."