The scenes that will stay with me as I end my tour of duty

The Times ^ | June 19, 2004 | William Farish

[MadIvan]

FOR THE past three years, I have had the honour and privilege to serve as America’s Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s, but it is now time to conclude my tenure here and turn my attention to my family and business. As my work in London comes to an end, I want to make some observations about the Anglo-American partnership.

First of all, whether your point of reference is D-Day or the end of the Cold War, there is no time that the “special relationship” has been better. Yes, I know that some will immediately protest, arguing that opposition to President Bush and America are widespread. Certainly some of London’s pundits have strongly held views, but my experience is that caricatures of the President and US policy find little resonance among the British people. They see the President as a plainspoken man of principle who says what he believes. They understand that American foreign policy is motivated by a genuine desire to make the world a better, safer place for us and for our children. They see this in the President’s determination to marshal an international coalition to win the war against terrorism, in his commitment of $15 billion to the global fight against HIV-Aids, and in his vision of an Arab world enjoying the benefits of the democratic and economic revolutions that swept across much of the rest of the world the past 15 to 20 years.

Bold, decisive leadership is often greeted by protest placards. But history often renders a different judgment from contemporary boos and catcalls, as President Reagan’s experience so clearly demonstrates.

In the time that I’ve been ambassador here, America and Britain have taken a number of steps together in which all of our citizens can take justifiable pride. After the tragedy of 9/11, our countries moved quickly and decisively to overthrow the abusive Taleban government and dismantle al-Qaeda’s Afghan sanctuary, and we have been the closest of partners in helping bring about a new Afghanistan. We have deposed and captured Saddam Hussein and, working with the UN, have ushered in a new Iraqi national government. It is only the first step, but it represents enormous progress from the days of Saddam’s murderous kleptocracy. No, we haven’t found the weapons of mass destruction, but we did find the graves of 300,000 innocents murdered by his henchmen. Our work in Iraq is not done, but we have made real progress.

An ambassador’s role in this drama is a profoundly personal one, but it is a role that has changed. The President and the Prime Minister talk to each other not just during visits or during a crisis, but every week. And our journalists work sources on both sides of the Atlantic, sometimes hourly. This gives us an advantage — we know each other better, for there are fewer intermediaries between the American Government’s views and British citizens. And it also allowed me to shift my embassy’s focus from the “big speech” or press conference to a broader set of direct exchanges.

Not that everything has changed. I got a privilege in November last given to an American Ambassador in 1918: giving up my home so the President could host the British sovereign as part of a State visit. The evening was capped-off with West End singers almost blowing the windows out of my dining room with an extraordinary selection of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show tunes. But it was also punctuated by the family dog barking as the President began his toast.

One thing has become more and more clear each day I have lived here: Americans and Britons enjoy a deep and profound personal bond. Americans feel welcome here. More than 350,000 Americans live here — our largest community outside North America. It helps that we communicate in a (largely) familiar language, but our bond goes much deeper than that. Londoners may chuckle a bit or shake their heads about some of our national characteristics, but modern Britain and modern America are really children of a common mother. Our histories, our legal systems, our arts and letters, and our popular entertainments share a lot of cultural DNA. As a man with some experience of studying bloodlines, I can tell you that this is more important than one might think.

Whatever you think is the source of the close ties that bind us together, those ties are undeniable. I saw them with my own eyes in Grosvenor Square following September 11, when tens of thousands of Britons came to offer condolences and express solidarity. So many of you sent messages to our website that the server crashed.

Wherever I’ve travelled in the United Kingdom, I’ve been greeted with courtesy and warmth, but nothing prepared me for this outpouring of raw emotion. It is in such trying times that one discovers which friends are really true. Those scenes of Britons queuing by the hundreds and hundreds to sign condolences books; of cards, flowers and mementos left behind; of a little boy who asked me to give his pocket money to American children who had lost their toys in the attacks; and the silence of London as all traffic halted and the deep toll of Big Ben could be heard all the way from Whitehall — those are scenes that will stay with me as I conclude my tour as American Ambassador to this great nation, and America’s best friend.

William Farish has been American Ambassador since August 1, 2001. He steps down on July 10

[MadIvan]

Thank you, Ambassador Farish. Safe journey home.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[Right_in_Virginia]

BTTT

[CyberAnt]

"They see the President as a plainspoken man of principle who says what he believes"

That's more than the American media knows.

[GVnana]

I'll never forget what my old mother ( who is not known for being politically astute ) told me after 9/11.

When I remarked in an off-hand way, "I wonder if any of our so-called allies will back us in what comes next?" She repled, "Not the French, but the British will. You can count on the British."

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

"Not the French, but the British will. You can count on the British."

Funny that we should be such firm friends after such a rocky start. But it is true, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries the only allies that have been true to one another have been the UK, the US and Oz.

We don't always agree but when push comes to shove we have each others backs.

[arjay]

Hey, MadIvan. It is good to see a post from you. I have missed seeing your posts on FR for some time. Glad to have you back. I grant that you may have been back and I have missed it.

[maica]

Thanks for this very positive post! I bet Ambassador Farish also was quite instrumental in keeping our special relationship as tight as it has been during these traumatic years.

If American democrat pols were not so blinded by jealousy, they would have seen how President Bush's administration cooperated closely with the Labour party's leader, Tony Blair. And they would recognize how essential cooperation is to our common safety.