Just out of curiosity, why is the failure to get France to budge off its "veto anything that is proposed" stance considered Bush's fault, and not France's?

France did not want Saddam removed. They were making hard cash off him. France is second only to the USSR in selling weapons to Iraq before the sanctions, with 13 percent of total sales (the U.S. accounted for about 1 percent). Arms snuck into Iraq after the sanctions are not figured into this. After the sanctions, there was oil.

I do not consider the failure to "convince" France to indicate a diplomatic failure. Again, I find it amazing that we have reclassified France and Germany as "Europe."

One can "succeed" in any negotiation if one is willing to immediately adopt the demands of one's opponent. Is this a good thing?

We convinced 40 nations to go into the Iraq effort on our terms. As I pointed out, not all of them are Pacific island groups by any means. Why is this not considered a Bush diplomatic success?

Why are you letting France define your terminology?