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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the EU's current chairman, called Thursday a US decision to freeze opponents of the Iraq war out of reconstruction contracts "quite logical". Berlusconi, who supported the war and has sent Italian troops to Iraq, appeared to contradict criticism by the EU's executive Commission of the move by US President George W. Bush. "It seems to me that Bush has said he would be happy to have this possibility of collaboration if countries that have so far held back from collaborating (militarily) decide to do so," he told reporters here. "It's quite logical," he said, as...

Iraq Minister Backs U.S. Move on Contracts   Fri Dec 12, 6:14 AM DUBAI (Reuters) - Iraq's interim foreign minister backed a U.S. move to bar war opponents from reconstruction contracts, saying some of them had supported Saddam Hussein's "bloody regime."   "Not only did these countries not help the Iraqi people, some of them opposed the war and others supported the dictatorship of this bloody regime in oppressing the Iraqi people through the years," said Hoshiyar Zebari during a visit to Qatar Thursday. "We Iraqis remember these things, and remember those who stood by us and those who...

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 Latest headlines: · U.S. Troops Shoot Dead 'Drive By' Tikriti Gunman Reuters - 10 minutes ago · Blast Kills U.S. Soldier Outside Baghdad AP - 31 minutes ago · Halliburton Denies Iraq Overcharges Reuters - 44 minutes ago Special Coverage Despite fresh criticism from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites), President Bush (news - web sites) stuck...

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--Countries that oppose the U.S.-led war on Iraq have no right to criticize the Bush administration for restricting Iraq reconstruction contracts to companies from companies that supported the war, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. said Friday. Prince Bandar Bin Sultan said, "It's amazing how people who were doing everything possible to derail the success" of the Iraq war now "feel they have the right" to reconstruction contracts. "It just takes so much chutzpah." The ambassador's comments on the diplomatic controversy came during a strong defense of President George W. Bush's foreign policy in the Mideast. Bandar went...

<p>Help our allies, or the French? You decide.</p> <p>Friday, December 12, 2003 12:01 a.m.</p> <p>OK, it was probably bad timing. Just at the moment the U.S. is going to ask Germany, France and Russia to forgive a big chunk of Iraqi debt, the U.S. put its finger in their collective eye.</p>

Let me try to understand this: Canada sat on the sidelines as its greatest friend went to war against a vicious tyranny in Iraq, and now it's offended that Canadian companies might not get to take part in Iraq's reconstruction? Come on, Canada. It is the Americans and their allies who are fighting and dying in Iraq. It is the United States that is putting up most of the tens of billions of dollars needed to rebuild the place. Is it so outrageous for Washington to say that only companies from the United States and allied countries will get the...

<p>President Bush yesterday said forgiving Iraqi debt would be "a significant contribution" to postwar reconstruction efforts and suggested that such a move by France, Germany and Russia might be enough to permit those countries' companies to compete for prime contracts to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure.</p>

Boomerang Diplomacy Friday, December 12, 2003; Page A36 YES, OF COURSE, President Bush's latest initiative on Iraq is arrogant and self-defeating. But that's not the most remarkable aspect of his decision to exclude companies from a number of countries that are important U.S. allies from bidding on reconstruction contracts. After all, a spiteful unilateralism has characterized the administration's handling of postwar Iraq all along, and it's an important reason why the United States must now face daunting military and political challenges nearly on its own. What's really strange about the administration's latest slap at Germany, France, Canada and other countries...

OK, it was probably bad timing. Just at the moment the U.S. is going to ask Germany, France and Russia to forgive a big chunk of Iraqi debt, the U.S. put its finger in their collective eye. We mean, of course, the list released by the Defense Department of the 63 countries that are eligible to bid for $18.6 billion of Iraq reconstruction work. The excluded countries — those that didn't lift a finger to help the U.S. and its coalition partners — immediately went berserk. Germany pronounced the list as "unacceptable" and Russia threatened to withhold any debt forgiveness....

<p>December 12, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - President Bush said yesterday there's a "very simple" reason that countries like France, Germany and Russia are getting shut out of post-war contracts in Iraq - they didn't risk any lives there.</p> <p>"The taxpayers understand why it makes sense for countries that risk lives to participate in the contracts in Iraq," Bush told reporters at the White House.</p>

The timing couldn't have been worse: Hours before President Bush was to call the leaders of France, Germany, and Russia to seek their help in easing Iraq's foreign debt, the Pentagon announced it would bar those same countries from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction contracts - on the basis of their opposition to the war. To be sure, the resulting flap is overblown: First, the ban applies only to the $18 billion in aid supplied from the US Treasury. Countries often tie foreign aid to their own companies or route it to favored foreign firms. By contrast, anyone may bid on...

One of my favorite things I do early each morning I get into work is peruse the foreign press. I like to know what they think of us. Apparently not much. The latest fuel for their anti-U.S. fire is the White House's position on Iraqi contracts that only coalition-supporting countries need apply. The French called it arrogant. Actually the French calling anyone arrogant would be like me chastising someone for not eating a salad … don't go there. But I digress. The Germans called President Bush cavalier. The Belgians, selfish. South Korea says we're sending the wrong message. And on and on....

WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Reuters) - President Bush on Thursday rejected criticism of his bar on Iraq war opponents winning lucrative reconstruction contracts, but signaled flexibility as Germany and others demanded a rethink. "It's very simple. Our people risked their lives. Friendly coalition folks risked their lives and...the contracting is going to reflect that...that's what the U.S. taxpayers expect," said Bush, as the bar threatened fresh international rifts. White House spokesman Scott McClellan suggested, however, there was room for some flexibility when asked whether countries that helped erase Iraqi debt could qualify to win contracts from $18.6 billion of U.S. reconstruction funding. "If...

Bush laughs off critics of 'spoils of war' bidding By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 12 December 2003 George Bush poured fuel on the flames of the Iraq contracts dispute yesterday with a sneering dismissal of a suggestion by the German Chancellor that the decision to bar Germany, France Russia and Canada from bidding might violate international law. "International law? I'd better call my lawyer," the American President joked in response to a reporter's question at the White House. Gerhard Schröder had spoken earlier after a meeting in Berlin with Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general. Mr Annan called the decision...

OTTAWA -- U.S. President George W. Bush is grateful for help in the war on terrorism and is ''working'' to include Canada in hefty contracts to help rebuild Iraq, he said in a farewell phone call to retiring Prime Minister Jean Chretien. ''He thanked me for what we're doing in Afghanistan and for the offer of money in the reconstruction of Iraq,'' Chretien told a news conference Thursday. ''As for the news in the newspapers stating that Canada would be excluded from economic activities in Iraq, the president assured me that this was not the case, and that he would...

Every network on Wednesday highlighted the angry reaction of nations excluded from receiving U.S.-paid contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, but CBS went the furthest in treating the decision to limit the contracts to the 63 nations in the anti-Hussein coalition as some kind of scandalous punishment when it could also be seen as a reward to those who helped or as an incentive to others to join up. Dan Rather managed to work “Halliburton” and “war-profiteering” into his introduction of his lead story: “President Bush has decided to punish some major countries by excluding them from the rebuilding of...

<p>President Bush, under fire from allies, said Thursday that countries which sent troops to Iraq should be entitled to share in the $18 billion in American-financed reconstruction projects while other nations are shut out.</p> <p>Bush's policy effectively excludes countries such as Russia, France, Germany and Canada.</p>

December 11, 2003 MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS FROM: WILLIAM KRISTOL & ROBERT KAGAN SUBJECT: Contracts for Iraq: Reverse the Pentagon's Decision 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...

What WTO accord says on Iraq contract dispute GENEVA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The United States' decision to bar Iraq war opponents like France, Germany and Russia from $18.6 billion in U.S. reconstruction projects has refuelled bitter trans-Atlantic tensions over the conflict. Washington says it is entitled to take the action despite trade agreements, signed by the United States and many of its critics, that were designed to ensure governments opened up state contracts to international competition. The United States, France and Germany are among some 25 state signatories to the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Government Procurement, which came...

The President Rebuffs Europe on Iraq Reconstrcution WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Thursday rejected European criticism of his decision to bar Iraq (news - web sites) war opponents from $18.6 billion in U.S. reconstruction money for Iraq and said contracts would be reserved for those countries that risked lives in Iraq.  "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," Bush said. The decision to bar war opponents like France, Russia and Germany...