Lost in Translation (in Spain) - OC Weekly

http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/04/28/cover-arellano.php


(snip)

On Feb. 6, (U.S. Ambassasor) Argyros granted an exclusive newspaper interview—his first in over a year—to Berna Harbour of El País, the New York Times of Spain. The result was journalism at its hard-hitting best:
-Harbour: How do you feel being an American ambassador in a country so opposed to the policies of the United States?
-Argyros: Against some policies, not all. It’s not always easy when people aren’t in agreement with all the questions, but they’ll never be in agreement with everything—not even my wife.
-How does the United States think of confronting the rising opposition to the United States that pollsters are documenting in Europe?
-I don’t agree with you. I don’t think that Europe is against the United States. We have disagreements, and we’re always going to have disagreements with some questions. But I don’t have the feeling as ambassador that our disagreements are so serious so that we can’t be friends. We’re friends. We have a coalition of members, that’s why I’m not in agreement with you.


(snip)

How out of touch was Argyros with the people of Spain? Near the end of the interview, asked about the upcoming election in which Spaniards would sweep away Aznar, he maintained that Spain would continue to support the United States in the War on Terror even if Aznar lost. Why? Because "the major part of is from Spain. We have more than 40 million Spanish speakers in the United States."

(snip)

In early February 2003, Argyros invited the leaders of all of Spain’s opposition political parties to the U.S. embassy for a breakfast. The topic: why they should support invading Iraq. Argyros scheduled his salon for Feb. 6, the day after Colin Powell would present the United Nations with "evidence" that Saddam Hussein had developed and was ready to use weapons of mass destruction. Feb. 6 was also a day before Aznar was to make his argument before the Spanish Parliament for his country’s role in any Iraq invasion.

But the politicians refused to attend, not because they were opposed to meeting Argyros but because they were offended at his insistence that the meeting take place at the U.S. Embassy. One political leader seethed that accepting Argyros’ invitation would transfer "Spanish sovereignty to the American embassy."

(snip)

In Argyros, Bush saw a valued lieutenant who collected $30 million as head of the California Republican Party’s fundraising arm during the 2000 presidential campaign, a famously venal businessman who doesn’t take no for an answer from anyone—even a nation of 41.5 million like Spain.

(snip)

President George W. Bush knew exactly what he was doing when the White House nominated Argyros for the position of ambassador to Spain in early 2001. Bush didn’t care that Argyros had no diplomatic experience and spoke no Spanish, nor that the Newport Beach billionaire was under investigation by the Orange County District Attorney at the time on charges that Argyros’ Arnel Management Co., his apartment company, systematically defrauded immigrant tenants. (Under mysterious circumstances, the DA later removed Argyros’ name from the government’s civil suit; Arnel paid a $2 million fine and admitted no guilt.)

Millions of Spanish speakers, and thousands of diplomats, to choose from in the USA, and who does Bush pick? A dodgy businessman who can't speak the language.

Especially insulting.

What a great analysis of why our allies have turned into adversaries under this unelected drunk...

" early February 2003, Argyros invited the leaders of all of Spain’s opposition political parties to the U.S. embassy for a breakfast. The topic: why they should support invading Iraq. Argyros scheduled his salon for Feb. 6, the day after Colin Powell would present the United Nations with "evidence" that Saddam Hussein had developed and was ready to use weapons of mass destruction. Feb. 6 was also a day before Aznar was to make his argument before the Spanish Parliament for his country’s role in any Iraq invasion.

But the politicians refused to attend, not because they were opposed to meeting Argyros but because they were offended at his insistence that the meeting take place at the U.S. Embassy. One political leader seethed that accepting Argyros’ invitation would transfer "Spanish sovereignty to the American embassy."

The Spanish press ridiculed Argyros for the incident. El Mundo gave him the equivalent of a thumbs down in its "What’s Hot/What’s Not" weekly feature, while El País columnist Ernesto Ekaizer speculated sarcastically that Argyros’ choice of date was no mere coincidence. Linked to the Powell and Aznar appearances, the breakfast was part of a strategy "in the perfect mind of Bush" to win over Spaniards.

Argyros did eventually get his breakfast—a week later in the chambers of Spain’s Parliament. There, Spain’s opposition leaders respectfully listened as Argyros laid out his stance. The breakfast lasted over two hours because, as one newspaper noted, Argyros "doesn’t speak Spanish, even though he’s been in Madrid for over a year."

Once Argyros finished, those present grilled him in a way that would have astonished their docile American counterparts. The Spanish were merciless. Fatima Aburto, a Socialist senator, reminded Argyros that John F. Kennedy once "promised that the United States would never initiate a war." Argyros "forcefully" justified his response, according to El Mundo; we might guess that he was bristling at Old Europe.

"I don’t know how all of you have been able to withstand 30 years of terrorism in Spain," he said. "For us Americans, seeing the image of the Twin Towers attack has sufficed to pursue terrorists by any means at any point on the planet." "

and this:

"Protesters began appearing at Argyros appearances. In March of last year, activists tried to reward Argyros with a fighting cock when he presided over a business conference; they were thwarted by security. On July 8 over 1,000 protestors staged a vigil outside the U.S. embassy in Madrid in memory of José Couso, a Spanish journalist killed in Baghdad by American troops. Participants turned in 50,000 letters demanding that Argyros ask the American military to investigate Couso’s death. In a letter they attempted to present to Argyros, Couso’s family mocked Argyros, asking him to award their handmade medals to the American soldiers charged with killing Couso—and two honorary diplomas to Aznar and foreign secretary Ana Palacio for having "acted like blind servants with what the United States has ordered" in the Iraq war. According to family members (on their website, www.josecouso.info) Argyros "considered the medals and diplomas insults and that he would ensure that nothing would be turned over to the embassy." "