— Writing in the National Post, Matt Welch examines Bush’s eroding popularity, here and abroad:
The rest of the world is understandably more concerned with Washington’s expansion of external power — whether it be Bush’s new vague doctrine of pre-emption, his recent order authorizing CIA agents to kill Saddam Hussein (in self-defence), or his overt pressure on past and upcoming elections in Nicaragua, Slovakia, the Palestinian Authority and elsewhere. And the very real U.S. unilateralism — illustrated this week by its threat to withdraw from UN peacekeeping missions unless Americans receive an exemption from the new International Criminal Court — continues to annoy our long-time allies.
The administration – especially the Justice Department – does seem to be in state of disarray, as we’ve seen by the FBI’s bizarre statements on terrorist Hadayet, the LAX shooter.