Sort of Straight Talk Between Bush and Brown

Did you ever see that movie Love, Actually where England’s Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant, tells the President that Britain would no longer stand for being bullied by the policies of the United States? It kind of went like that Monday between President Bush and Gordon Brown at Camp David.

Well, perhaps it wasn’t that dramatic of a scene. Prime Minister Brown didn’t make any outright statements about breaking ties with the United States, but the language between Bush and Brown made it apparent that Brown is not taking the same stance on the War in Iraq as his predecessor Tony Blair, and that Britain is no longer on the same page as the United States.

Before Gordon Brown took over as leader of the Labour Party, it was speculated that he had different viewpoints on the War in Iraq than former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Brown said he wouldn’t be President Bush’s lapdog, and he admitted that mistakes had been made in Iraq.

Today Brown put a new spin on what President Bush still refers to as the “War on Terror”: Brown calls it “a struggle for the soul of the 21st century”. Part of that struggle, according to Brown includes focusing on Afghanistan and eventually removing British soldiers from Iraq, although Prime Minister Brown has given no set timeline for their withdrawal.

It could be said that Brown’s 180 from Blair’s Iraq policies and his use of more lengthy terminology to describe the War on Terror is foresight for the 2009 elections. There’s no doubt, however, that this newly-formed friendship is tough news for President Bush, as it appears one of the biggest members of the Coalition of the Willing is now a little less willing.