More mush from Milbank

Today’s musings from Dana Milbank (see link below) also include this silly shot at President Bush: “In a speech at Whitehall Palace, Bush gushed about the Special Relationship [with Great Britain]. ‘America is fortunate to call this country our closest friend in the world, he said. Really? But he has said in the past that Israel has ‘no better friend than the United States,’ while Poland has ‘no better friend in Europe’ than the United States and Turkey has ‘no better friend’ than America. Have these friends been demoted?
Actually, even a socially attuned pre-schooler understands the distinction that Milbank has missed. For example, it quite possible (virtually incontrovertible, I would say) that (a) Israel has no better friend than the U.S., but (b) the U.S. considers Britain a better friend than Israel. In fact, some feel that Bush uses the “no better friend” locution as much to remind Israel of its isolation as to affirm the friendship.
More to the point, it would be hard to dispute that, as long as the U.S. remains the major power most willing and able to use force to defend freedom, many different nations have “no better friend” than America.