opposed to the emergent franco-german alliance against the war were countries representing both "old" and "new" europe, in secretary rumsfeld's terms. in the former category, both uk prime minister tony blair and spanish prime minister jose maria aznar were firmly with the u.s. view regarding the supposed danger represented by iraq. there was clear resentment on the part of both these men for what they regarded as the high-handed attitude of the french president and the sense in which his attitude seemed to imply a situation of natural french leadership in europe.