Apr 3

　　Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart, Jack Straw, were the picture of transatlantic harmony as Rice visited Straw's constituency in Blackburn, England, last week. Their good cheer reflected the continuing official closeness of their two countries--the tightest of coalition partners three years into the war in Iraq despite the opposition of much of the rest of the world and the fact that, as Rice conceded last week, "we've made tactical errors, thousands of them," in Iraq. But not everyone in the British government is smiling. A dispute over a jet fighter is threatening to drive a rare wedge between London and Washington, straining the alliance at a time when Britain and the U.S. would seem to need each other more than ever.

　　盟友关系紧张

　　当康多莉扎·赖斯国务卿上周访问英国外交大臣杰克·斯特劳位于英格兰的布莱克本的选区时，他俩被看成是跨大西洋关系的一幅和谐的画卷。他们得到的欢呼声反映了两国持续亲近的官方关系。尽管面临世界上大多数国家的强烈反对，尽管赖斯上周也承认，“我们犯了数以千计的战术错误”，两国仍是伊拉克战争持续三年以来最紧密的合作伙伴。但是英国政府中并不是人人都对此笑脸相迎。对一架喷气式战斗机的争议正在破坏伦敦和华盛顿之间的关系，在英美最需要彼此时造成联盟关系的紧张。