Snub thy neighbor

last updated 8 January 2015

Ottawa

President Bush this week canceled a visit to Canada scheduled for May, in what diplomats described as a slap in the face over Canadian opposition to the war in Iraq. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said he and Bush were still “good friends,” and that the visit had only been scrubbed because Bush was too busy to make the trip. Critics called the move a rare diplomatic snub that Chrétien brought on with his outspoken criticism of Bush. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president was not angry over Chrétien’s position on the war. Bush, Fleischer said, simply had to postpone the trip due to his “ongoing obligations to help the people of Iraq build a nation that is whole, free, and at peace.”