Posted on 12/12/2003 4:05:07 PM PST by a_Turk
PARIS (Reuters) - The United States and some of its key allies turned up the volume on their transatlantic argument Thursday over whether opponents of the U.S.-led war could share in contracts to rebuild Iraq (news - web sites).
Reuters Photo
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Despite fresh criticism from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites), President Bush (news - web sites) stuck to his guns, telling reporters in Washington the contracts would be reserved for those countries that risked lives in Iraq.
Speaking in Berlin, Annan told reporters: "It is time we tried to rebuild international consensus and work together and pool our efforts ... to stabilize Iraq."
Annan and European leaders urged Washington to reverse its decision and allow them to join in bidding for $18.6 billion in U.S.-funded reconstruction contracts.
The White House said it was sending James Baker, a former secretary of state, to visit war opponents France, Germany and Russia along with Britain and Italy next week to seek help in relieving Iraq's crushing $125 billion debt.
"If these countries want to participate in helping the world become more secure, by enabling Iraq to emerge as a free and peaceful country, one way to contribute is through debt restructuring," Bush said.
"It's very simple. 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," he said.
Bush's decision left European firms counting the cost and could open new trade disputes. But experts doubted the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) would declare the U.S. move illegal and said it was unlikely to kill a deal to reduce the Iraqi debt.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, standing at Annan's side, said: "It makes little sense to discuss who can and who cannot individually participate economically in reconstruction.
"International law must apply here and it does not help things to look backward and is more directed at the past."
NOT SEEN AS CONSTRUCTIVE
Karsten Voigt, coordinator of U.S.-German relations at the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, said the U.S. move was astonishing and made it hard to explain to parliament why Germany wanted to do more to help rebuild Iraq and possibly train Iraqi policemen.
"Returning to old arguments and divisions doesn't seem particularly constructive," Chris Patten, the European commissioner for external relations, said in Brussels. "We should be seeking to bring people together not divide them."
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, visiting the German city of Munich, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying: "We must not allow steps to be taken today that would lead to a split in the international community with regard to Iraq."
More than 60 countries were deemed eligible to compete for the lucrative contracts, including Japan, Britain, Australia, Poland, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, South Korea (news - web sites), the Philippines and Romania.
European leaders said the move threatened efforts to rebuild trust damaged by the Iraq war.
But Washington said it was "appropriate and reasonable" to limit those who opposed the war to bidding for sub-contracts while ones that backed it had a chance to reap the benefits.
Ludolf von Wartenberg, managing director of Germany's BDI Federation of German Industry, said the U.S. move mainly affected firms that do not have subsidiaries in one of the 63 countries allowed to take part in tenders.
Trade experts in Geneva, the headquarters of the WTO, said they doubted any case brought to the 146-member body by the EU or any other country excluded by the United States from bidding for contracts in Iraq would be successful.
Economic analysts said Washington's decision to bar Russia, France and Germany was unlikely to kill a deal due to be struck by the end of 2004 that would reduce Iraq's huge debt, despite the harsh criticism from European politicians.
Berlin, Paris and Moscow are among Iraq's biggest creditors and are key to winning a meaningful debt reduction.
(Additional reporting by David Chance in London, David Crossland and James Mackenzie in Berlin, Steve Holland in Washington and Sonia Oxley in Moscow)
Someone 'splain this one to me..
I'll have to call my lawyer.
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
European leaders are the ones who need to show some efforts.
Forgive some debt. Send some troops. Get with the program, you losers.
Then perhaps you'll stand to profit from the tax money I'm paying. Until then, bite me.
How about because its the right thing to do, and since Germany was a Saddam enabler, it might help to repent.
Let France, Germany, Russia and Canada each pony up $18.6 BILLION and award it to whoever they want to.
Problem solved!
Being that the Dems criticize everything GWB says or does, Maybe it's time GWB starts having some fun with the "9 RATS a running" by announcing more things like he did when he said those who sat out the war, will sit out the awarding of contracts, knowing how they will side with our enemies :-)
You cannot rebuild Iraq when the nation is impoverished by past debt NOT incurred by themselves. These nations are already getting 7 billion a year under current debt structuring. Why should they get more?
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