No Shock U.S. Is Shutting Us Out (Canada hoist with its own petard)

The Toronto Sun ^ | December 11, 2003 | Peter Worthington

[quidnunc]

Why is anyone surprised?

Why does Deputy PM John Manley find it "shocking" that the United States is banning Canada from bidding on $18 billion worth of reconstruction contracts in Iraq?

A better question might be why wouldn't the U.S. ban Canada, which opposed deposing Saddam Hussein and sided with America's European opponents to the war?

It's all so … so typically Canadian.

Here we balked at helping the U.S., even rhetorically in its time of need, yet expect favours now that rebuilding Iraq has begun.

Manley thinks Canada should be allowed to bid on contracts because we've already donated some $250 million towards Iraq's reconstruction.

Surely he's got it wrong.

Canadian taxpayers' money donated or earmarked for Iraq is to help Iraqis, not to help America. Canada withholding funds out of spite won't affect the U.S., but will punish Iraqis.

Besides, America is not "banning" or punishing Canada so much as it is trying to reward those countries that stood by America in its war against Saddam Hussein.

And why not?

Countries of the coalition took heat from nay-sayers like France, Germany, Russia and Canada. Why would rewards not go to those countries that stood tall and firm with America?

-snip-

[quidnunc]

Quote:

Had Canada not chosen to make a virtue out of necessity or expediency in the war, and had it even verbally supported the desirability of getting rid of Saddam Hussein even though our military was insufficiently equipped to fight a war, well, like Angola, Canada would be entitled to now bid for reconstruction contracts.

Chretien & co. were not only making a virtue out of necessity, they were pandering to the anti-Americanism of their base.

Manley and company know how payoffs work. Shucks, Prime Minister Jean Chretien rewarded his friends with not only contracts but bank loans — and fired bank presidents who balked.

These shreiking-like-raped-apes protestations by The Axis of Weasels and it's running dogs are a calculated campaign to stoke the fires of anti-Americanism within their own populations and curry favor with the Middle-East kleptocracies.

[microgood]

Keep digging a hole Canada, not that much further to China.

[aculeus]

BTTT

[Ashamed Canadian]

Thankfully, we're not all too stupid to realise our country's recent hypocricy. Evidenced by the writer of the article. The Toronto Sun is the last bastion of conservative opinion. Everyone calls it a rag, stating that it's a poorly written newspaper. The real reason they call it that is it has views coinciding with pro American ideas, the very reason I read it.

[cwb]

Did anybody catch O'Reilly's debate with Bill Richardson, last night? Like the good lib he is, Richardson was bashing Bush for humiliating the weasels in public. Then O'Reilly asked the governor, if it would've been better for Bush to just except the bids with no intentions of honoring them. Richardson said, "yes, that would've been much better." I think this is so telling of how Democrats...and especially those associated with Clinton, operate. I don't think O'Reilly even realized it, but he exposed the duplicity and appeasement that is engrained within the Democratic leadership.

[Broadside Joe]

Wow! What is that echo I hear in the distance? Could it be a voice of sanity?

[Nat Turner]

The same goes for Afghanistan, where it's Canadians who are in for future trouble. But that's a different story that will unfold in 2004.

It just keeps getting better and better...

[Tamzee]

U.S. conservatives are fully aware we have good friends among our liberally-oppressed Canadian brethren :-)

It's wonderful to see them speaking out on our behalf!

[SolutionsOnly]

Has anyone considered what a huge insult awarding contracts to opponents of Iraq Liberation would be to the families of the Americans, Brits, Aussies, Poles, and Italians who have died in freeing Iraq?

It would be great to have Canada back on board, but I fear that they've drifted past the point of no return...

[kitkat]

***The role of the U.S. military was primarily to eliminate the tyranny of Saddam Hussein -- not to impose and guide its version of democracy in what is clearly an undemocratic environment. ***

This writer didn't do his homework very well when he said that we are imposing our version of democracy on Iraq.

Bush said before the war began that we would not impose OUR version of government on the people of Iraq. He has further stated the same thing over and over. The following is Bush's statement of 9/7/03:

"Third, we are encouraging the orderly transfer of sovereignty and authority to the Iraqi people. Our coalition came to Iraq as liberators and we will depart as liberators. Right now Iraq has its own Governing Council, comprised of 25 leaders representing Iraq's diverse people. The Governing Council recently appointed cabinet ministers to run government departments. Already more than 90 percent of towns and cities have functioning local governments, which are restoring basic services."

Sounds a lot better to me than to let Saddam's thugs back in to torture, murder and jail their own people.

[kitkat]

***The role of the U.S. military was primarily to eliminate the tyranny of Saddam Hussein -- not to impose and guide its version of democracy in what is clearly an undemocratic environment. ***

This writer didn't do his homework very well when he said that we are imposing our version of democracy on Iraq.

Bush said before the war began that we would not impose OUR version of government on the people of Iraq. He has further stated the same thing over and over. The following is Bush's statement of 9/7/03:

"Third, we are encouraging the orderly transfer of sovereignty and authority to the Iraqi people. Our coalition came to Iraq as liberators and we will depart as liberators. Right now Iraq has its own Governing Council, comprised of 25 leaders representing Iraq's diverse people. The Governing Council recently appointed cabinet ministers to run government departments. Already more than 90 percent of towns and cities have functioning local governments, which are restoring basic services."

Sounds a lot better to me than to let Saddam's thugs back in to torture, murder and jail their own people.

[Billthedrill]

Presumably, Canada wants to help the Iragi people -- the victims of Saddam. If so, maybe countries like Canada and Europe should write off debts incurred by Saddam's regime, which may run to $300 billion.

Nicely put, and quite correct, but the bottom line is that there's no money in that. Helping the Iraqi people is not even on the radar screen of the people who are screaming about the contract bidding.

[gatorgriz]

"Ya dance with them that brung ya..."

Amen brother!!!

[norton]

"I don't think O'Reilly even realized it, but he exposed the duplicity and appeasement that is engrained within the Democratic leadership."

Neither O'Reilly nor any other reasonably alert adult should be surprised to learn that bargaining in good faith is NOT a democrat trait.

[chudogg]

One thing that should be very clear, which the Mainstream media is trying to desperately ignore, is that the money for these contracts is coming from the AMERICAN TAX PAYERS!!

Foreign nations do not have any RIGHT to bid on contracts paid for by the U.S. treasury. The fact that we were courteous enough to allow nations which participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom to bid on these contracts just shows how overly generous we as a nation are.


If France and Germany really want to bid on Iraqi Reconstruction contracts, tell 'em fork over some of their own money!

[js1138]

Speaking of Canada, did freedominion fold or stay alive?

[quidnunc]

js1138 wrote: Speaking of Canada, did freedominion fold or stay alive?

Free dominion is still in operation.

http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/portal.php