Bush alienates France, Germany, Russia, China, Turkey, everyone in the UK but Tony Blair, Mexico, and now, Canada.

Yahoo! News - U.S. Raps Canada on Iraq, Says Should Quiet Critics The U.S. ambassador to Canada took the unusual step on Tuesday of openly criticizing Ottawa for not backing the war on Iraq (news - web sites) and urged Prime Minister Jean Chretien to muzzle anti-U.S. sentiment in his government.

The comments by an angry Paul Cellucci dramatically reflected how much relations between the two close allies and trading partners have deteriorated over the last few months, mainly as a result of the Iraq crisis.

They also put more pressure on a Canadian government that refused to send troops to Iraq to fight an "unjustified" war but which now seems to be wishing the Americans well and backing their bid to remove Iraq leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) -- a concept that Ottawa had previously condemned.

Cellucci told an audience of business executives in Toronto that had Canada found itself under threat, Washington would have come to its aid immediately.

"There is no security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with. There would be no debate, there would be no hesitation. We would be there for Canada -- part of our family," he thundered.

"And that is why so many in the United States are so disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now," he said. In the speech, and in comments to reporters afterward, he mentioned U.S. disappointment 12 times.

What will have been most disconcerting for the audience was Cellucci's statement that the United States gave a higher priority to security than to the booming trade relationship between the two countries.