Quote:
Originally posted by Not Me
Cite please.
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there is a Washington Post article on this very subject today Pages A1 and A40-- which we covered extensively yesterday.
Let's review the bidding:
To club, and all who said the contracts policy was a negotiating ploy -- not if you believe our President:
"But Bush was unyielding in defending the policy. 'It's very simple', Bush told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. 'Our people risked their lives. Friendly coalition folks risked their lives, and therefore the contracting is going to reflect that, and that's what the U.S. taxpayers expect.'
"Bush said even a decision by countries such as france and Germany to forgive Iraqi debt would not enable them to compete for contracts in Iraq."
[Me: This reasoning breaks down when you consider that most eligible countries did NOT send troops to Iraq. I will not reiterate my criticisms of yesterday, but I think it's a fifth-grade playground approach to policy.]
However, Bush's spokesperson hinted that negotiation was possible: McClellan: "'If countries want to join our efforts in Iraq,' he said 'circumstances can change, and we'll make that very clear.'"
[Me: So, this is just a clumsy and humiliating public attempt at bribery?]
After all, this "principle" only goes so far -- as the article noted that Bush has indeed phoned up Chretien and said that he would take steps to exempt Canada from the policy.
Aapparently, this sudden policy announcement -- Wolfowitz wrote the memo -- is even more puzzling to GOP congressional leaders given that the White House twice insisted this year on removing similar provisions from proposed legislation(i.e. that would have barred French, German, and Russian companies from bidding on U.S.-let contracts in Iraq).
I so rarely agree completely with Sen. Bill Frist and/or Bill Kristrol/Robert Kagan, that I will celebrate by quoting them all:
Frist [Yesterday on CNBC's "Capital Report"]:
"'We have to remember that many of these countries that are being denied these contracts are supporting us elsewhere in the world, maybe fighting HIV-AIDS in Africa, maybe in Afghanistan, and that's why I hope there'll be some moderation of this policy as we go forward.'
"Frist, who was not told in advance about the contracts policy, said he 'expressed his concern' to the Bush Administration."
Kristol/Kagan [in a memo circulated yesterday]:
"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 magnaminity. But instead of being smart, clever or magnanimous, the Bush administration has done a dumb thing."
James Hoge [editor of Foreign Affairs magazine]:
"If we ever wanted to ensure that the operation in Iraq will be an all-American show, this has done it. It's mystifying at a time it seemed the Bush administration was moderating some of its tougher rhetoric and looking to patch up the transatlantic relationship -- and then this. It's one more mark of inconsistency to crop up in Bush foreign policy at an inopportune time."
I hope that Hoge is wrong about the effect. It just seems very clear that the DoD folks have no concept of how to coopt people rather than to coerce them. And Bush let's them run wild.
S_A_M
[edited -- typos]
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