Often, when we actually see a person we usually see only on television, that person strikes us as unexpectedly small. The White House struck me the same way when I saw it in the U.S. capital for the first time.
Of course, it was a stately and elegant edifice. But I thought it was small for the symbol of a superpower. In fact, I heard some Americans say in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that one of the reasons the terrorists did not target the White House was that its small size made it difficult to aim a hijacked airliner at.
The small White House has sent out massive ``bills.'' While asking Congress to appropriate an equivalent of about 10 trillion yen to finance operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, U.S. President George W. Bush on Sunday urged Japan, Europe and states in the Middle East to make financial contributions as countries that ``will benefit from the success of freedom'' in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The United States resorted to military action in Iraq despite misgivings expressed by a considerable number of countries. Getting bogged down with the Iraqi occupation, Washington seeks massive financial contributions from other nations, even letting it be known that it will collect the sums it has asked for.
Criticisms are prominent in the American and European media that the war in Iraq was based on overly optimistic prospects and that Bush has switched the focus from weapons of mass destruction to the war on terror.
The mess in Iraq has fundamentally resulted from the Bush administration's pursuit of unilateralism.
In his farewell address, George Washington, the first American president, said, ``Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. ... Nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded.'' (A Japanese translation of the text of Washington's address is available in the form of a collection of American presidential speeches, published by Hara Shobo.)
About 200 years have passed since then. The times and relations between the United States and the rest of the world have drastically changed. But Washington's farewell address holds out eternal lessons to be learned by all leaders.
