Here's a good editorial in the LA Times that gets the issue of NATO and alliance-wrecking just right.

The need for credible allies is no less urgent as the United States prepares for possible war with Iraq. The Bush administration should take care not to fray relations beyond repair in responding to the sometimes shrill objections of France and Germany. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is out of line when he dismissively says those nations are the "old Europe" and wisecracks that the only countries not willing to help attack Iraq are Germany, Libya and Cuba. The strongest man in the house needs to speak softest. [itals added]

Exactly right. A dose of maturity would be in order -- echoes of the lunch-money fracas. More disturbing of course, as a friend noted last evening, is the fact that a major, likely the dominant, faction in this administration would like to wreck NATO.