In Europe, Bush seeks shared ground

Sixty years after the Western Alliance was forged in the heroic invasion of Nazi-occupied France, the US and its European allies are at odds as never before.

It's true that President Bush's just-finished swing through Western Europe seems to have been a success, at least of atmospherics. Somber ceremonies remembering the liberation of Rome and the D-Day invasion provided leaders an opportunity to reflect on the lessons of their shared history.

But this year's bitter squabbling about Iraq between the US, France, Germany, and other old friends may be a symptom of more profound disunity. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Europe needs the US less - and the US is less interested in Europe. The longstanding allies have different levels of involvement in, and different purposes for, other regions of the world.

Going forward, the trick may be for the West to find ways to disagree without the rancor displayed in the past year. Otherwise, this weekend's amity will have been but a brief spot of sun in a long, slow decline.

"US-European relations are at or near a postwar low point," says Charles A. Kupchan, director of European studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

At least this weekend's events did not hurt the cause of reconciliation. Large public protests about US policies in Iraq didn't materialize. Mr. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac did their best to try and get along, discovering, among other things, that they have a shared interest in cattle. (Mr. Bush has a ranch in Texas; Mr. Chirac was once a minister of agriculture and rural development.)

On substance, Bush and Chirac said they had made progress on a UN resolution on returning self-government to Iraq. Both US and French officials spoke positively of a move by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who has proposed establishing committees throughout Iraq to negotiate understandings regarding the action of US and other foreign troops.

But Chirac, for all his pleasantries, made it clear that by no means did France now completely agree with the US on Iraq policy. Bush tried to draw an analogy between World War II and efforts to fight terrorism, including the Iraq war - a connection Chirac rejected.

"History does not repeat itself," he said.

In one sense, the passing of Ronald Reagan while President Bush was in Europe symbolized the decline of Western Alliance relations.

As president, Mr. Reagan was no favorite of European publics. They derided him as a "cowboy" and dangerous cold warrior.

But Reagan was of the generation of Americans who remembered what it meant to stick together in adversity. A veteran himself, he helped guide NATO through one of its greatest challenges - the deployment of Soviet SS-20 midrange nuclear missiles, and the subsequent NATO "dual-track" response of cruise and Pershing missile deployments in Europe.

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