WASHINGTON -- During his Asian trip, U.S. President George W. Bush met with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun to highlight the two nations' alliance. The next day Roh's government announced that it was withdrawing a third of its soldiers from Iraq. Never mind.
The Stockholm Syndrome is when kidnap victims identify with their captors. The Washington Syndrome is when American policymakers identify with prosperous, populous allies that prefer not to bear the burden of defending themselves.
The State Department has never met an alliance that it doesn't like. As a result, the list of Washington's foreign policy "welfare queens" is long. Including South Korea.