European Union Commissioner Chris Patten yesterday attacked the US for projecting its military power in a way that was “profoundly misguided.”

He added the Afghanistan campaign reinforced some “dangerous instincts” including that the US could rely on “no one but itself.”

Today Richard Perle, Ronald Reagan’s Deputy Defence Secretary and a close adviser to President George W Bush, describes why the US must lead the war on terror.

It is patronising of Mr Chris Patten to emphasise how much he loves and admires America and then to embark on a foreign policy prescription that would leave us vulnerable to terrorism. The EU Commissioner represents an institution which has no capacity to protect us if we do not protect ourselves.

The European Union could not defend the United States from Iraq’s Saddam Hussein--nor could it bring about the change of regime in Iraq that we are all hoping for.

Mr Patten misinterprets the President and misunderstands his responsibility to defend the American people.

His suggestion that this can be accomplished by multi-lateral organisations like the United Nations and the European Union is laughable. They could not even prevent the expulsion from Iraq of the UN’s weapons inspectors.

Indeed the United Nations has behaved in relation to Iraq exactly as its impotent predecessor, the League of Nations, did in respect of Hitler’s Germany in the 1930s.

In his article, Mr Patten admits: “Europe cannot hope to match US military spending--nor should it even aspire to do so.” But he says he “feels strongly that European governments should increase their national military budgets, shouldering more of the burden for their own defence.”

If he is expressing those strong feelings to his European colleagues, they are having no effect. Far from going up, the defence budgets of almost all European states are going DOWN. Mr Patten goes on to say: “The European Union symbolises the unity of countries who come together to tackle common problems.”

That’s fine . . . except that every time Europe gets into trouble, it phones the United States for help.

Europe is so weak and in disarray on so many security issues, it cannot do anything without American assistance. What Mr Patten fails to appreciate is that the President is speaking overwhelmingly for the American people.

He reflects the views of those who elected him to keep the country safe. Mr Patten has not been elected to public office since 1987 and is responsible to no one.

His worrying views are echoed in some of the capitals of Europe. It seems the moral compass of the European Union gone the way of the euro--steadily down.

When the President talks about the “Axis of Evil”, he is describing some of the nastiest regimes of the 20th and 21st centuries. If Mr Patten is upset by the word “evil”, how would he describe them? And what would he do about them?

He seems prepared to do nothing except to countenance their continuing evil.

By contrast the President has in mind something effective to deal with the genuine threat posed to the United States.

It may not be the same thing in each case. When he talks about Iran, he is associating himself with the democratic aspirations of Iran. That is something which is very difficult to do if you go to Teheran to kiss the behinds of the mullahs as Foreign Secretary Jack Straw did and Mr Patten would like to do.

Mr Straw made a fool of himself by talking about the “common values” shared by Iran and Britain. This is a regime which has spread the instruments of terror wherever they can take root.

People should understand that President Bush is not talking simply for effect.

This is a man who is extremely careful with his words and very sensitive about avoiding empty rhetoric. He is probably the most determined leader this country has had in the post war period.

Unlike wets like Chris Patten, he is not prepared to follow conventional wisdom and find elaborate excuses for nasty regimes which others are afraid to confront.

Richard Perle was speaking to Political Editor Trevor Kavanagh. Perle is a resident fellow at AEI.