Aberration?

Says EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson on the BBC Today programme, the "hostile US attitude" shown towards European unity during President George W. Bush's first term was an "aberration".

Calling for a "less unequal" relationship between both sides, he has pointed to the United States' "vulnerability" when it goes it alone, shown by Washington's need for European help in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Without allies working with the US in Iraq, the position would be even worse," he said.

Er… as I remember it, the US did not "go it alone". Further, as I recall, the US hostility arose because "Old Europe" sat on its hands and did precisely nothing on Iraq but carp from the edges.

So where is the aberration?