Admin to Euros: Give them the Stick, then ask for a carrot...

Why should they EXPECT us to give them our money?

 

And George moves further along the path of alienating the rest of the world.

You're either wid us, or aginst us.

I thought this was supposed to be about the reconstruction of Iraq...not just rewarding the team?

 

Shouldn't Iraq decide who gets to rebuild their stuff?

 

"I'm a unitifier, not a dividerer".

Wrong on both counts, George. You are a moron.

 

As I pointed out in another thread, this is disturbing because Canada, which lost folks in Afghanistan due to our incompetence and has given almost $200 million to the cause in Iraq has been excluded from bidding. Russia and France carry the most Iraqi debt and we'll be asking them to forgive that debt. We depend on France and Germany to stop Al-Q in Europe before they make it to the US and in this, both have been cooperative and very helpful. That cooperation will be needed in the future yet we continue to poke them in the eye. It may make some feel good to pursue this type of "policy" but in the long-term it will hurt us. I also can't imagine that discussions about excluding US firms from France, Germany, Russia, etc. are not happening.

 

I'm speechless could we isolate ourselves anymore?

 

They're not giving any to us.

 

It's our money. We have every right to determine who gets to bid. We're not prohibiting their firms from getting some of the money (as subcontractors), only from the bidding. And none are exlcuded from bidding on the $13B that other countries have contributed.

As for the debt relief, the biggest benefactors are the Iraqis. If some countries forgive debt and others don't, I imagine it will effect their future business in Iraq.

 

I imagine there will be enough competition as is; adding some more European bidders won't benefit us enough to make up for the lost tax revenues.


Funny how some of the same folks who crticize Bush in other threads for the loss of jobs or jobs lost overseas are so willing to giveaway $18B in business.

 

I thought this was hilarious. The Bushies believe in free markets, except when they don't - competive bidding on Iraq contracts/WTO notwithstanding; Bushies believe in democracy except when we don't - Pakistan/Saudi Arabia/China over Taiwan, Bushies believe in unilateralism except when they screw up - post war Iraq/ now North Korea/ now Iran.

If one believes in the free market one has to be arguing against excluding the Euros, because otherwise we the taxpayer is footing a higher bill as a consequence of non competitive bidding. But maybe that's conservative thinking. It's not like some one from Fiji is going to compete with the Bushies buddies.

 

thought you might be interested in seeing what those rabid neocons at the weekly standard think about this:

--
Contracts for Iraq: Reverse the Pentagon's Decision
by William Kristol and Robert Kagan
12/11/2003 12:00:00 AM

President Bush, we suspect, is going to overrule the Pentagon's attempt to exclude from the bidding for Iraq reconstruction contracts certain countries that have opposed U.S. policy in Iraq. He might as well do it sooner rather than later, so as to minimize the diplomatic damage done by the Pentagon's heavy-handed and counterproductive action.

We hold no brief for the Chirac, Schroeder, or Putin governments. We are also very much in favor of finding ways to work more closely with other governments -- such as those of Britain, Spain and Poland -- who have courageously stood with us, and who hold the promise of continuing to be more helpful to us. We have even been critical of the Bush Administration for a certain lack of imagination in finding ways to work constructively with these friendly governments. But this particular effort by the Pentagon to reward friends and punish enemies is stupid, and should be abandoned.

A deviously smart American administration would have quietly distributed contracts for rebuilding Iraq as it saw fit, without any announced policy of discrimination. At the end of the day, it would be clear that opponents of American policy didn't fare too well in the bidding process. Message delivered, but with a certain subtlety.

A more clever American administration would have thrown a contract or two to a couple of those opponents, to a German firm, for instance, as a way of wooing at least the business sectors in a country where many businessmen do want to strengthen ties with the United States.

A truly wise American administration would have opened the bidding to all comers, regardless of their opposition to the war -- as a way of buying those countries into the Iraq effort, building a little goodwill for the future, and demonstrating to the world a little magnanimity.

But instead of being smart, clever, or magnanimous, the Bush Administration has done a dumb thing. The announcement of a policy of discriminating against French, German, and Russian firms has made credible European charges of vindictive pettiness and general disregard for the opinion of even fellow liberal democracies. More important, it has made former Secretary of State James Baker's very important effort to get these countries, among others, to offer debt relief for the new government of Iraq almost impossible. This is to say nothing of other areas where we need to work with these governments.

This decision is a blunder. We trust it will be reversed.

 

basso....Bill Kristol's heart and mind are in the right place in that article. However, I believe it would take something huge for Bush to reverse the Pentagon's decision. Maybe if Bush sees it affecting his re-election chances he would reverse it...other than that, probably not. Kristol is correct with his conclusions.

 

Originally posted by SamFisher
Essentially, by forgiving debt, they are.

Nope. We're trying to do a friend a favor. It means no money to us, no matter how you spin it.

Cohen, how come the Bush administration can see the problem with the juxtaposition of the two policies, but you can't? I'm beginning to doubt that you read the article at all.

Did you read it?

...White House officials were fuming about the timing and the tone of the Pentagon's directive, even while conceding that they had approved the Pentagon policy of limiting contracts to 63 countries that have given the United States political or military aid in Iraq. ...

Timing and tone, not content.

Sounds like they were expecting to do something more along the lines of what Kristol and Kagan envisioned, but they erroneoulsy let the Pentagon handle something that should have been managed by State.

 

Mean and unwise

 

Very stupid and perhaps illegal.

Way to go. Needlessly piss off 'Russia, Germany, France,China, I believe Mexico. I guess it plays well, with the same macho crowd that liked "wit us or agin us" or "bring it on" and the other cowboy rhetoric. As Caligula said: "I don't care if they hate us as long as they fear us".


Iraq is still nominally a sovereign country.

Shouldn't the Iraqis have something to say about it? I guess not. To the imperialists the profits.

This is very likely illegal under international law. Oh well these guys don't believe in international law.

It is extremely simplistic to just say it is "our money".
When we help the Iraqis in area after area we require that all the technology be American regardless of if it can be acquired cheaper. Cell phones, healh care etc. all of the parts must come from our corporations. The same one that contributed to Bush-Cheney. Halliburton type stuff over and over.

Even if the dittoheads don't see this, the rest of the world and even the Iraqi see it this way.