Tiens, iemand bij de New York Times bekijkt de situatie een beetje rationeel:

In the United States it is taken as axiomatic that America is a country that really faces up to evildoers, while those sniveling old Europeans just don’t have the nerve. And the U.S. commentariat, with few exceptions, describes Mr. Bush as a decisive leader who really gets to grips with problems. Tough-guy rhetoric aside, this image seems to be based on the following policy ? as opposed to political ? achievements: (1) The overthrow of the Taliban; (2) . . . any suggestions for 2?

Meanwhile, here’s how it looks from Paris: France was willing to put ground troops at risk ? and lose a number of soldiers ? in the former Yugoslavia; we weren’t. The U.S. didn’t make good on its promises to provide security and aid to post-Taliban Afghanistan. Those Americans, they are very brave when it comes to bombing from 10,000 meters, but they expect other people to clean up the mess they make, no?

And French officials have made no secret of their belief that Mr. Bush wants to invade Iraq not because he is truly convinced that Saddam Hussein is a menace, but because he’d rather have an easy victory in a conventional war than stick to the hard task of tracking down stateless terrorists. I’m not saying they’re right; I have no idea what Mr. Bush is really thinking. But you can understand their point of view.