Bill Press is a syndicated columnist and the co-host of CNN's Crossfire, which airs Monday-Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, and The Spin Room, which airs Monday-Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Bill Press: Junior goes to Europe

WASHINGTON (Tribune Media Services) -- It’s every parent’s dream: sending Junior off to Europe for the summer. Yes, it costs a lot of money, but just think of the benefits. We’ll get lots of pretty postcards, Junior will have a good time making new friends. And, besides, he may actually learn something while he’s over there.

Just think how proud we’ll be when Junior comes home and admits he learned a powerful lesson: that Americans, great people and country that we are, don’t necessarily have all the answers. That, believe it or not, there are still some lessons we can learn from others. Won’t it be good for Junior to feel a little humility?

That’s every parent’s dream. But here’s every American’s nightmare: the Junior we’ve sent off to Europe this week is president of the United States -- and he’s not going to learn, but to teach. To teach those pesky Europeans some lessons about global warming, missile defense, troops in Bosnia, and capital punishment. On every issue, before bounding up the stairs to Air Force One, President Bush told our European allies: we’re right, you’re wrong.

Capital punishment. Timothy McVeigh doesn’t change anything. Capital punishment is barbaric. It is no deterrent to crime. It serves no purpose but letting people savor the sadistic joy of revenge. In a civilized society, the better and cheaper alternative is to lock dangerous criminals behind bars for the rest of their life, with no possibility of parole -- which they have done in Europe since 1977. In fact, no nation is allowed to join the European Union until it first abolishes the death penalty. And, in those countries, the rate of violent crime is much lower than in the United States.

Troops in Bosnia: Bush says he wants to bring all American troops home, because we don’t believe in “nation-building” and, besides, Europeans should clean up their own house. If he bothered to check the facts, he would know that, out of 21,000 troops left in Bosnia, only 3,500 are Americans. That number will soon be reduced even more. And they’re not “nation-building," whatever that is. By their very presence, they prevent a return to “ethnic cleansing” and thereby save lives. And they’re keeping the peace, which is a lot less expensive than waging war.

Missile defense: Unlike the United States, the Europeans and Russians have watched bombs destroy their cities. They know the answer is not to pretend we can build an umbrella that will keep out all incoming missiles. The answer is to get rid of the missiles. Abandoning the ABM treaty and building a new missile defense system will not help end the arms race. It will launch a whole new one. There is also the uncomfortable reality that, after 15 years of testing, the Star Wars technology still doesn’t work.

Global warming: Before leaving for Europe, Bush staged a Rose Garden speech to put himself squarely on the side of more research on global warming. Who does he think he’s kidding? To his utter embarrassment, his own panel of scientists, which he had appointed to provide cover for junking the 1997 Kyoto Treaty, told him last week that global warming was real and demanded action by the United States.

Ironically, on the day Bush left for Europe, calling for more study, the European Union announced it would exceed greenhouse gas reductions called for in the Kyoto accords and Canada unveiled a 10-year plan to cut automobile emissions. Meanwhile, Bush needs more research to see if the earth is really flat.

What a disaster in the making. This is shaping up to be the most successful presidential foreign travel since Bush’s Daddy threw up on the Japanese Prime Minister’s shoes. And it’s a disaster that could have been avoided -- if only Bush had consulted with our allies first, before barging in recklessly, alone, on all the issues.

When campaigning for president, Bush promised that the hallmark of his foreign policy would be “humility”. If only!

If only Junior were going to Europe to listen, and not to preach, he might actually learn something. He might learn that, on every issue he plans to raise -- global warming, missile defense, troops in Bosnia and capital punishment -- Europeans are right, and we are wrong.