Chutzpah, Definition Of

Rumsfeld annoyed over secret plan on Iraq By Pamela Hess UPI Pentagon Correspondent From the International Desk Published 2/8/2003 10:36 PM MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The United States is likely to reject a proposal France and Germany are crafting for beefed up U.N. arms inspections in Iraq, a plan being developed without consulting the United States, U.S. officials said Saturday. An annoyed U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld learned of the proposal Saturday night after it was reported in the German newsweekly der Spiegel. The proposal, to be presented next week to the U.N. Security Council, would send thousands of U.N. troops -- so-called "blue helmets" -- and hundreds, possibly thousands, more inspectors to enforce U.N. resolutions calling for Iraq's disarmament. In comments to reporters, a senior U.S. government official said, "In diplomacy, if you are trying to win friends and influence people the last thing in the world you want to do is to lay on the U.S. government -- on the most important issue facing us -- a major diplomatic proposal through the press. That's not exactly the way to go."

Incredible. The U.S. is lecturing "Old Europe" on the proper way to conduct diplomacy?