The George W. Bush administration has pursued a reckless foreign policy, which has alienated AmericaÆs longstanding allies abroad and damaged our global reputation. Among the many shortsighted decisions taken by the Bush administration in the international sphere were the unilateral withdrawal from the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia, the failure to sign the Kyoto protocol to combat global warming, and the decision to forgo joining the world court. However, the clearest example of the Bush administrationÆs utter disregard for international diplomacy and willingness to alienate our allies. The alienation of our allies began during the rush to war in Iraq the Bush administration subverted the United Nations (UN) Security Council, invaded without international approval, and derided the leaders of nations who would not join our coalition. However, the incompetence of our handling of the war and the decisions to exclude non-coalition countries from joining the rebuilding efforts have clearly cemented these countriesÆ dissatisfaction with America. In a world where terrorism rears its ugly head seemingly at will, the Bush administrationÆs consistent willingness to alienate American allies abroad has made us less safe.
The Bush administration began to alienate the rest of the world when they lobbied for a UN resolution to invade Iraq. At the time, UN weapons inspectors were in Iraq and had been granted unprecedented access to facilities across the country such as Saddam HusseinÆs palaces. The inspectors were not finding weapons of mass destruction (WMD), however, and the Bush administration was impatient with the process being convinced that Saddam was hiding significant WMD programs. It was during this period that Secretary of State Colin Powell made his now infamous presentation to the UN body where he provided shaky intelligence pointing to WMD sites in Iraq. The world was not convinced and, led by Fra...