US lost many allies in post-Sept 11 world: Press
AFP, Moscow
Russia's press marked the anniversary of September 11 yesterday by regretting that Washington squandered the outpouring of international goodwill after the suicide attacks by launching the hotly-contested invasion of Iraq. Some newspapers said both Europe and Russia have become confused by President George W. Bush's global ambitions after initially rallying behind the United States in a genuine outpouring of grief two years ago. "A year ago, it seemed that our goals were simple, clear, obvious and honorable. But today it seems that one year ago, we were wrong," the authoritative Izvestia newspaper observed in a special commentary. "Two years ago international terrorists declared war on the United States and thus on the entire civilized world," Izvestia said. But Izvestia noted a global coalition that once formed behind the United States has since splintered after Washington ignored other nations' strong reservations over the need to attack Iraq. "Today, on the second anniversary, everything has changed. The logic no longer works. The (anti-terror) coalition has fallen apart. "For the United States, France and Germany are no longer partners but part of an 'old Europe.' And there are clouds on the horizon over (Washington's) relations with Moscow. And there is one main reason for this Iraq," said the centrist daily. Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to call Bush and deliver his condolences two years ago. And a few months later he opened Russia's airspace and former Soviet military bases in Central Asia to assist the US-led campaign in Afghanistan. But the tone in Moscow was far more sarcastic on this second anniversary. "Indestructible and legendary -- al-Qaeda has turned two years old," the Kommersant business daily said in a irony-laced headline that ran above a photograph of Ground Zero, the site of the twin towers that fell in New York. Meanwhile the Gazeta daily ran a special insert made up of two black pages commemorating the anniversary and quoting Bush's speeches on the war on terror. But it also observed that only a fraction of alleged al-Qaeda suspects put on the US most-wanted list had been captured in the Afghan campaign. There were no official Russian ceremonies planned for September 11. But the US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow was due to lay a wreath before a Moscow theater that saw Chechen rebels take some 800 civilians hostage last October. Vershbow aimed to show the two nations were still united in their war on terror.
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