Free Republic

In boardrooms in France and Germany, businesses play catch up, trying to cash in on Iraqi reconstruction. HANOVER, GERMANY - The two shiny pipe welding tractors that fill most of the space in Eginhard Vietz's production hall here might be German industry's first casualties of the Iraq war. Shipment of the two massive machines, approved under the United Nations oil-for-food program in 2002, was called off four weeks before the first rockets began falling on Baghdad. Now, Mr. Vietz is stuck with almost $600,000 worth of expensive equipment that was the first part of a $5 million order placed by...

It's payback time at the White House, and countries around the world are reaping the benefits or paying the price for their stand on the war with Iraq. The door to the Oval Office is wide open for foreign leaders who backed President Bush, but war critics would be lucky to find a spot with Barney, the presidential dog. Foreign leaders who crossed Bush can forget about presidential visits or quick action on free trade agreements. The retribution fits Bush's longstanding pattern of rewarding friends and punishing enemies, but critics say it is adding to the already substantial anti-American sentiment...

It's payback time at the White House. Countries around the world are reaping the benefits or paying the price for their stand on the war with Iraq. The door to the Oval Office is wide open for foreign leaders who backed President Bush. But war critics will be lucky to find a spot with Barney, the presidential dog. Foreign leaders who crossed Bush can forget about presidential visits or quick action on free-trade agreements. The retribution fits Bush's long-standing pattern of rewarding friends and punishing enemies. Critics say it is adding to the substantial anti-American sentiment abroad. "It's petty, and...

Even if civilian casualties in Iraq (news - web sites) are light, expect a great deal of attention to the subject in the days ahead. In a number-obsessed society, focusing relentlessly on the deaths of innocents--and inflating the numbers, if necessary--is a conventional way of undermining support for war. This helps explain why dozens of civilian-casualty articles sprouted in the news media within hours of the first shots in Iraq, even before coalition ground forces swung into action. The news agencies of our chief non-allies--France, Russia, China, and Germany--were quick off the mark. Agence France Presse may have established the...

April 2, 2003, 7:00 a.m. The Axis of Losers The countries that do not support us have terrible economies. By Kevin A. Hassett On March 14 German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder delivered a much-anticipated speech outlining his latest plan to rescue the German economy from the doldrums. The speech was an impassioned appeal to continue to defend German workers against the evils of capitalism. “Our country has not,” Schroeder said, “become economically strong through the law of the jungle, through indiscriminate hiring and firing.” Indeed, to Schroeder’s eye, there is hardly anything worth cutting, right down to the generous dental benefits....