Diplomatic Diary: Style Over Substance

For a real display of global harmony, you might actually expect far larger numbers of foreign troops and much more money from allies. But in exchange, you might have to give far more in terms of real power to the U.N., as the French and Germans have demanded. In any case, it's not clear that the rest of the world is ready to step up to the plate--even if Iraq was dumped in the U.N.'s lap.

Just look at the response of America's closest allies, Britain and Spain. Tony Blair's government just announced that an additional 1,200 troops would be heading for Iraq, bringing the number of U.K. forces to around 12,000. That is a mere one quarter of their wartime peak--and all this from a country where a majority still support the war, in spite of the political scandal surrounding the pre-war hype.

Spain, another steadfast ally, has just 1,200 troops in Iraq and is planning no increase. Ana Palacio, the Spanish foreign minister, told NEWSWEEK that the troop numbers reflected Spain's size, its economy, and the nature of its armed forces. "We are contributing what we think is reasonable," she said, suggesting it was far more important to win the symbolic help in Iraq of countries from the region.

Spain is also readying for a donors' conference in Madrid next month to raise cash to rebuild Iraq. Yet that too appears more symbolic than substantive, given the size of the task in Iraq and what Paul "Jerry" Bremer, the chief U.S. civilian administrator in Baghdad, calls the "staggering" amounts of cash required. The definition of staggering just got even more breathtaking, with the president's request for $87 billion from Congress, including $20.3 billion for reconstruction.

That leaves another staggering task for the Madrid donors to come close to matching this year's additional figures from the White House. "It's a huge amount, which takes you aback when you see this," Palacio says of Bush's figures. While Palacio declines to say how much Madrid might raise, she adds: "I think that right now the first goal is to have the involvement of the international community, to have it assume that Iraq is a concern for all of us."

So not even America's closest allies are expecting vast sums of money or troops--at least not vast enough to make a significant impact in Iraq. Far from a huge policy reversal, the Bush administration is engaging in subtle tweaks of its presentation, and the rest of the world is only too ready to return the favor. So don't expect much of a group hug this fall at the U.N. The world is only ready for an air kiss.

© 2003