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Georgians traditionally welcome guests as gifts from God, but few will be as cherished and regaled as U.S. President George W. Bush when he arrives in Tbilisi on May 10 for an official visit. This is fitting since few guests have carried as much symbolic and strategic importance for the country and his visit is certain to give the current government a major boost. Rumors of his visit first spread early on Thursday and gained strength as President Mikheil Saakashvili said that he had invited the U.S. leader on several occasions but that it was the prerogative of the White...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Bush irks India by selling fightersBy Sharon BehnTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished March 26, 2005 The Bush administration yesterday announced the sale of F-16 fighter jets to its anti-terrorism ally, Pakistan, a major policy shift in the region that irked Pakistan's longtime nuclear rival India.     Pakistan, the only nuclear-armed Muslim-majority nation, is seen as critical to the U.S. strategy in the region. A senior administration official said yesterday there was "no set limit" on what Washington would be willing to sell to Islamabad.

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Washington ONE big story from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to South Asia was that once again Washington's policymakers are trying to send F-16 jet fighters to Pakistan. This is like a broken record - the argument has come up repeatedly since 1990, when an amendment I wrote quashed a deal involving 28 of the planes - but unfortunately this time the sale may well happen. Pakistan is a declared ally in the fight against terrorism, and thus we give it huge amounts of military aid. But F-16's have nothing to do with fighting Al Qaeda and...

The level of insurgency in postwar Iraq wouldn't be so high if the U.S.-led coalition had been able to invade from the north, through Turkey, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday.

US House cuts back military aid for Poland 2005-03-17, 14:17 The US House of Representatives approved an $81.4 billion war spending bill that would slash President George Bush's foreign aid request and add nearly $2 billion more than he sought for defense. The bill cuts $400 million that Bush had asked for to reward war allies within the so-called Solidarity Fund. One fourth of the fund money was supposed to be given to Poland – according to the promise president Aleksander Kwasniewski brought back from his talks with GW Bush earlier this year. In a statement the White House asked...

SACRAMENTO - The day after Arnold Schwarzenegger launched an initiative drive to remake public pensions, a prominent ally of President George Bush attacked the plan and pleaded with the GOP governor to pursue an alternative. Forcing new public employees to move to a 401(k)-style pension system -- in which they would invest their own money and assume the risk of playing the stock market -- would hurt the University of California's ability to attract top talent, said Gerald Parsky, chairman of UC's Board of Regents. The proposal is one of three ``reforms'' that Schwarzenegger said Tuesday he wants to take...

An ally's anger, a Virginian's aid Crash-team investigator helps probe wreck that killed Romanian rock star BY MARK BOWES TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Monday, February 7, 2005 The mechanics of the wreck seemed rather routine, but it involved a minefield of international politics. Rick Dowsett had to tread lightly as he reconstructed the crash. He wasn't on familiar turf. He couldn't speak the language. He wasn't versed in international diplomacy. But as a seasoned Virginia State Police crash-team investigator, he had the expertise the military needed to study a politically charged case that ruffled relations between the United States and Romania,...

Polish Troops Won't Leave Iraq in 2005 By ELA KASPRZYCKA, Associated Press Writer WARSAW, Poland — Poland will keep its soldiers in Iraq at least through the end of the year, when the U.N. mandate for foreign troops expires, the country's defense minister said Friday. Leaders in Poland, which commands a 6,000-strong multinational force in Iraq, have expressed hope that Iraq's Jan. 30 elections will pave the way for an eventual withdrawal of foreign troops. But Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski told The Associated Press that Poland's previous commitment remains in force. "We will be there until the end of the...

Analysis: Poland, America's last friend By Sebastian Christ UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Washington, DC, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Spain has already left the "Coalition of the Willing." Great Britain's and Italy's governments support President George W. Bush, but their people do not. France? Don't even talk about France. In Europe there is only one country that stands faithfully alongside the United States -- an unnoticed friend -- Poland. According to a recent British Broadcasting Corp. survey almost two-thirds of Poles feel that Bush's second term will bring more peace to the world. In contrast, 77 percent of Germans, 75 percent of...

Cheney Calls New Ukraine President Ally By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer KRAKOW, Poland - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is an "ally of freedom's cause," Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said Wednesday in toasting the new leader, who leans toward the West yet plans to maintain his nation's historic ties with Russia. Echoing President Bush (news - web sites)'s inaugural address, Cheney talked about overcoming tyranny and hatred in his remarks during a meeting with the new leader of the former Soviet republic and, earlier, at a reception with survivors of the Holocaust. "What President Yushchenko has...

PARIS, France (CNN) -- The French Foreign Minister has called for "a new trans-Atlantic relationship" between the United States and its European allies. Too many challenges face the world for the two not to work together in addressing them, Michel Barnier told CNN, but said France will not bow to the will of the United States. "We are allies. Alliance is not submission." The "French-bashing" that followed the disagreement may have hurt U.S.-French ties, Barnier said. "It's not fair to ridicule France. France and the U.S. are friends and allies in the world, in history, since the beginning. Once again,...

Ukraine will withdraw its 1,400-strong military contingent from Iraq by the end of next year, Defence Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "Next April we will be sending only a reinforced battalion rather than a brigade and by the end of 2005 we will complete our pullout of the contingent," Mr Kuzmuk's press service quoted him as saying. The statement said a battalion would be made up of about 500 servicemen. Ukraine's original contingent sent to Iraq was made up of some 1,600 servicemen. It has suffered nine dead and 30 injured. The withdrawal is supported by...

20th December 2004 Brothers in arms or an ally scorned? From Warsaw Business Journal by Andrew Kureth Events of the past 12 months have shown where Polish-American relations are gaining strength-and put a spotlight on where tensions are growing. No event this year dominated the American news like the race for the White House between Democratic Senator John Kerry and the incumbent, President George W. Bush. Though America was bitterly divided on the issues, there was never any question as to which candidate Poland supported. Survey after survey showed Poland was the only country in Europe in which more citizens...

AUSTRALIA would keep troops in Iraq until the job was done, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer assured the new Iraqi ambassador yesterday. During a brief welcoming meeting at Parliament House, Mr Downer told Ghanim Taha Ahmad Al-Shibli that Australia would maintain aid programs and continue to build up trade programs. "I want to make it clear, and I have made it clear to the ambassador, that we are very firmly committed to a new and democratic Iraq, that we are not going to cut and run," Mr Downer said. Mr Al-Shibli spent 18 years in exile in the US during Saddam...

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin had made several statements over the last six months, voicing his strong and unequivocal support for George W. Bush’s reelection bid. First, during his American visit last summer, Putin said that the Democrats had no moral right to criticize the incumbent for the Iraq invasion, after what they did to Serbia in 1999. Later in Astana Putin said that the Iraq invasion was indeed justified, because Saddam was planning terror attacks against U.S. targets, according to Russian intelligence. Finally, in October Putin said that Kerry’s candidacy was supported by international terrorists, waging a war on the...

Blair defies critics to stand by US alliance By Cathy Newman, Chief Political Correspondent Published: November 14 2004 22:00 | Last updated: November 14 2004 22:00 Europe must unite with the US under the banner of democracy to defeat the scourge of terrorism around the world, Tony Blair will urge on Monday. The prime minister will defy leftwing critics of the war in Iraq to mount an impassioned defence of Britain's “special relationship” with the US. In his annual foreign policy speech at the Mansion House in London, Mr Blair will lay out his vision shared with George W. Bush,...

Media Downplays Iraq War Ally John Howard's Re-election

Sunday 26 September 2004, 0:37 Makka Time, 21:37 GMT Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf says the US-led invasion of Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place. Though an ally of the United States, Musharraf on Friday described the invasion as a mistake and said it had complicated the "war on terror". "It has ended up bringing more trouble to the world," Musharraf said in a television interview. "The world is more dangerous because the Iraq war has aroused the passions of the Muslims more," he added. "The war in Iraq has complicated the war on terror ... it has...

Letter From Poland by David Ost Warsaw Western visitors here have often been surprised by Poland's avid pro-Americanism. For some it's a pleasant surprise: They find none of the anti-American stereotypes common elsewhere in Europe. For others it's an unpleasant one: What about the victims of America's imperial power? Poles managed to find something deeply admirable in all American Presidents: They appreciated Carter for his human rights agenda, Reagan for his gut anti-Communism, Bush Senior for overseeing the end of the cold war and Clinton for his commitment to an inclusive globalization. Until now. George W. Bush has managed to...

Abizaid Pledges to Root Out, Destroy Zarqawi Terror Network By John D. BanusiewiczAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2004 – The U.S. general responsible for U.S. military operations from the Horn of Africa to Central and Southwest Asia pledged today to destroy "piece by piece" the terror network of fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, met briefly with reporters along with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John D. Negroponte following a closed Senate briefing. Zarqawi has a $10 million bounty on his head, and...