America in the World

The BBC's world affairs correspondent presents a one-sided account of the UK-US relationship

Paul Reynolds, the BBC World Affairs correspondent, has written a very one-sided article on the BBC website about the US-UK relationship.

Mr Reynolds swallows the lines put out by Sir Christopher Meyer, former British Ambassador to Washington, in his evidence to the Iraq war inquiry. He quotes Sir Christopher Meyer without qualification:

"During the lead-up to the war on Iraq in 2003, Britain failed to make its influence felt on two fronts. First, it did not insist, as the conditions for its support, on progress in the Middle East peace process and on better planning for post-war Iraq. Second, it did not get a commercial trade-off. Its demands for changes to an air services agreement and steel tariffs were ignored."

In reality, Britain's influence on Washington was enormous at the time. Tony Blair insisted on getting approval from the United Nations for the war. The UN route forced Britain and America to focus on the issue of WMD rather than the odious nature of the Saddam Hussein regime. Regime change is not permissible under 'international law'.  The failure to then win UN approval undermined global support for the war from the off.

Reynolds goes on to conclude that "History, in fact, warns us not to expect too much from this transatlantic relationship." He then lists various of the disappointments in the US-UK relationship, only offering this throwaway effort at balance at the end of his piece: "What still counts is a security sharing arrangement and trust, which involves the US giving the UK a nuclear missile."  "A nuclear missile?"  Margaret Thatcher would agree that it amounted to a lot more than "a" nuclear missile.

I don't want to defend some of the 'downs' in the UK-US relationship.  The current White House's behaviour towards Britain on Afghanistan, for example, is unacceptable.  But there are 'ups', too, that Mr Reynolds chooses not to mention. Considerable 'ups'.

The whole western world shelters under the umbrella of America's huge investment in defence and intelligence.  Without US naval power we would all be paying a great deal more to keep the high seas free of piracy, for example.  Without US intervention in the Middle East, despotic regimes would probably be unchallenged and world oil prices would be much, much higher.

During the Falklands War - after a hesitant start - America helped enormously with the conflict against Argentina - especially with submarine detectors, missiles and aircraft fuel. The intervention on Britain's side soured US relations with much of Latin America for many years.

No two nations share more intelligence than Britain and America.

America remains the number one destination for UK overseas investment and the US remains the number one investor in the UK.

It's true that the relationship isn't as special as it once was but a public service broadcaster - like the BBC's Paul Reynolds - should have offered a much more balanced account of it.

Tim Montgomerie

The BBC's outgoing North America Editor writes a fond farewell to the USA

AmericaInTheWorld.com has featured the writings of the BBC's Justin Webb on a number of occasions.  He also addressed a gathering of journalists, politicians and other opinion formers hosted by AITW.

Mr Webb has now left America and will soon become one of the principal presenters of the BBC's flagship currents affairs programmes; Radio 4's Today programme.

Before he left he wrote a goodbye reflection.  You can read it all here but this was his conclusion:

"I deplore the superstition and the eating competitions and the tatty dreariness of so much of America, and I note that the new president is also unimpressed by the infrastructure and not a fan of fat but, after more than seven years living here, I am increasingly convinced that these elements of the nation are not the flip side of the greatness of America, they are part of that greatness.

There is something about the carelessness of America that gives space for greatness.

Out on route 17 in South Carolina, you can do very well or very badly. You can crash and burn, or you can fill up with cheap petrol and ride off into the sunset. If you do not like yourself in South Carolina, you can hire a self-drive hire truck and take it to Seattle. If you do not like your life and you have drive and luck, you can change it because - being American - you believe you can change it.

Sitting in a dingy apartment in New York watching Perry Mason on the TV, you can decide to make it big in law as eight-year-old Sonia Sotomayor once did.  This summer, now in her fifties, she becomes a Supreme Court justice and the latest American story to send shivers down the spines of dreamers of the American dream.  But if Sonia Sotomayor is to make it big, there must be something creating the drive, and part of that something is the poverty of the alternative, the discomfort of the ordinary lives that most Americans endure and the freedom that Americans have to go to hell if that is the decision they take...

More than 300 million people live here now, settlers from all over the world. From Ho Chi Minh City, from Timbuktu, from Vilnius, from Tehran, from every last corner of the earth, they have made America their home and they are still streaming in.  I feel crazy going back to the old world. My five-year-old daughter Clara, who is the proud owner of an American passport, agrees.  She says she intends to leave home, at around 12-years-old, and return to her native land. I do not blame her.

If you are willing to chance your arm, if you back yourself, if you want to live the life, America is still the place to be. Drive out on Route 17 and take a chance!  So that's it from me, I am checking out. But part of me can never leave…"

Barack Obama's Press Secretary Robert Gibbs questions honesty of British press

Talking about the British media, Mr Gibbs said: "If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I'm not entirely sure it'd be the first pack of clips I'd pick up."

Nile Gardiner of the Thatcher Center in Washington DC commented:

"Robert Gibbs' completely unwarranted rant against the British press is an absolute disgrace, and the President should disown his views. An unreserved apology by Gibbs is also in order.

For all its talk of "raising America's standing" in the world after the Bush years, the Obama administration is doing a spectacularly bad job of reaching out to its allies. Unfortunately this is the new face of America's public diplomacy, which will only serve to alienate public opinion across the Atlantic. Congratulations Gibbs - you've just made an enemy out of the entire British media, quite an achievement for the man in charge of selling the President's message."

Justin Webb addresses AmericaInTheWorld.com

The BBC's North America Editor, Justin Webb, addressed AmericaInTheWorld.com yesterday evening.  We hope to publish the transcript of Justin's talk in due course.  It was a great occasion attended by Labour and Conservative MPs and by Democrats and Republicans from the United States.

Remembering Alistair Cooke

Many Britons - and many more across the world who listen to the BBC World Service - learnt about the USA through Alistair Cooke's Letter from America. The weekly 15 minute radio slot was the best known feature of an extraordinary 58 years of reporting US life.  Memorable 'Letters' can be revisited here.

On the occasion of what would have been Alistair's 100th birthday, BBC Radio has presented a 45 minute tribute to the great reporter and his relationship with America.  You can listen to it here.