threaten - the new American way

Bremer threatens Dutch with economic retaliation if they don't send more troops to Afghanistan

So much for that coalition of the willing. We're now having to extort support for Bush's bumbling foreign policy.Someone needs to tell the Dutch that Bremer only speaks for the 39% of Americans who currently support President Bush.

A decision not to send more troops in Afghanistan would be damaging for Dutch interests in the US, former American diplomat Paul Bremer III warned on Monday....

Acknowledging Dutch politicians must weigh all the considerations, he said question marks would be raised on the US side about Nato if the mission doesn't go ahead. "What is Nato all about if our allies are not prepared to stand should-to-shoulder with us?"....

Consequences would be unavoidable if the Dutch does not send the troops. "Time and time again decisions must be taken by the US government, by Congress, that influence Dutch economic interests. It is not difficult to imagine decisions could be taken that would not be in the interests of the Netherlands," Bremer said.

Uh, earth to Bremer. NATO is far more useful to the US than to Europe right now. Europe is quickly becoming the next superpower. If the US wants to keep a seat at the table, NATO is all we got. Threatening to take our toys and go home is probably
most of Europe's dream come true.

(Americablog)