Way back in April I pointed out that America's "allies" were more concerned with profiting from Iraq's oil fortune, then controlled by a megalomaniac, than with long-term peace and prosperity for Iraq and its citizens. These "allies" go on proving me right:
FOXNews.com - Politics - U.S. Allies: Forget About More Help for Iraq
""Iraq's debt to the Russia Federation comes to $8 billion, and as far as the Russian government's position on this, it is not planning any kind of a write-off of that debt," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters Wednesday. "Iraq is not a poor country."
No, Iraq is not a poor country, but the debt agreements with Russia, Germany and France were made by the aforementioned megalomaniac and not by the sand, the oil, or even the citizens of Iraq. These nations have no legitimate claim on the people of Iraq or it's nascent government. Their only recourse is to help us find Saddam and take their "loans" back from the billions he's looted... and the remainder from his hide. When the U.S. finally quits pussyfooting around with this "forgiveness" face-saving olive branch to our "allies" we will be on firm moral ground when we advise the Iraqi government to disavow the outstanding debts of their former captor. It's not like Russia, Germany or France will send any troops there in order to collect!
The only thing that makes me more angry than the tactics of these European parasites is that the Administration is still playing their pathetic little game.
Even the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel appears to recognize the hypocrisy, as they've been quoted (in the Fox News piece) saying, "It is childish to reject the war but to be offended when afterwards no profit is to be made from reconstruction."
Posted by JohnGalt at December 11, 2003 09:26 AMOur beloved US media seem to be spinning this hard in an anti-Bush direction (mirabile dictu!) I cannot believe a majority of Americans are really broken up that France and Russia will not be profit from the Iraqi reconstruction.
Posted by: jk at December 11, 2003 10:30 AMHmmm. William Kristol at The Weekly Standard differs (http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/481yjxxw.asp):
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.
I'm disappointed. Apparently Kristol wants to play old Europe's little game, even going so far as to imply that the Administration isn't "truly wise." GWB hasn't always made the right free-market/individual rights decision (steel tarriff, farm bill, medicare, stem cell research, campaign finance reform, ID&X, etc.) but in this case he has. The President's approach is consistent with "you are either with us or with the terrorists," while Kristol's is not. Hurrah for dispensing with ambiguity.
Posted by: johngalt at December 12, 2003 09:11 AMFew I respect more than Kristol, but I have to go with johngalt here. Andrew Sullivan joins us today, saying "There is a difference between being magnanimous and being a patsy."
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