Bush's foreign policy draws fire

Bush's foreign policy has sparked protests the world over

By US State Department correspondent Jon Leyne

US President George W Bush may be taking a month's vacation at his Texas ranch, but critics of his foreign policy are working as hard as ever.

Senator Daschle has lent his voice to the chorus of criticism

In a major speech this week the Senate majority leader Tom Daschle - the top Democrat in Washington - added his voice to the growing chorus.

Senator Daschle said the administration had demonstrated a willingness to walk away from international agreements.

He listed them:

• the Kyoto protocol on global warming
• the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty
• a measure to create an international criminal court
• the biological weapons protocol
• a global agreement to curb sales of small arms
• the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

"Reasonable people can disagree about the merits of each of these individual agreements," said Mr Daschle.

"I don't think reasonable people can ignore the consequences of tearing up each one.

"Instead of asserting our leadership we are abdicating it," he said.

Team divisions

Behind the scenes, amongst the Bush foreign policy team, there is a continuing and fundamental split.

So says Morton Halperin, who worked in the State Department under President Bill Clinton.

"I think the divisions are quite serious," he insisted.

"I think they are based on one fundamental question: 'Can we pursue our interests in the world unilaterally, or do we need the active co-operation of our friends and allies?'"

Bush may be on holiday but the foreign policy debate rages on

While the ideologues and the pragmatists within the administration are already engaged in a lively debate, Congress is also getting ready to do battle.

Senator Joe Biden, another key figure in the Democrat-controlled Senate, has warned that they could block the administration's central project - the missile defence programme.

The administration's counter-attack is only slowly taking shape.

What's on the menu?

One member of the foreign policy team coined a new phrase recently to describe their approach - "a la carte multilateralism," picking and choosing between the different international agreements.

But how do they respond to the charge that they are too willing to go it alone?

"It's three, four, five different things where this administration felt that they couldn't go forward, it wasn't being done in the best possible way," argues the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher.

"There is a much longer list ... a much much longer list of areas where this administration is working multilaterally to try to resolve problems."

There is certainly no shortage of discussions and consultations with America's allies.

The acid test is whether any policies will be changed as a result.

Morton Halperin believes pragmatism will eventually triumph: "I think the realities of the world, the pressure from the Congress, the pressures from our allies are such that the administration will gradually be brought around.

"The hope is that in the meantime it won't have caused any irreversible damage," said Mr Halperin.