The uproar and whinging from our erstwhile friends and allies in the EU and Canada about being excluded from bidding for American-funded prime contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq is very revealing. I assume that the average Iraqi served by these improvements couldn't care one way or another whether their new road was put in by an American firm or a French firm, as long as it's there and it works. But then, we've known all along that the primary concern of those that opposed the libertion of Iraq wasn't the average Iraqi. Since we are talking about funds from the US Government, I have no problem at all with the US Government deciding how best to spend those funds. Rewarding your friends and punishing your enemies is rule #1 of politics, and especially Realpolitik.
Really though, this is classic. Perhaps our friends and allies aren't in it for the oil, but they are in it for the money. Tell me again about how noble a virtue this is and how pure their motives are. Isn't it fascinating that after all their objections to deposing Saddam and carping from the sidelines while the heavy lifting was done by others, they are now claiming to be victims of the liberation of Iraq as well. I suppose it's true that this isn't conducive to further coalition building, but then neither was their active hostility to us before, during and after the liberation of Iraq. In fact, there's no end in sight to their thinly veiled anti-Americanism.
As Tony Soprano says, "there have to be consequences." Or as John Kerry might say, f*** 'em.
I wouldn't be so sure about that average Iraqi part. My brother-in-law was in Iraq, a communications expert traveling as part of a team evaluating bomb damage or some such. They came to a telecommunications relay station (or some large piece of telecom infrastructure--he's the expert, not me), and there were four notable facts:
The manager had his people dismantle the equipment and take it all to their homes so it wouldn't be destroyed and they could put it back together after the war;
The equipment was French, but not that old;
They did not want any French involvement, assistance, or anything, no way, no how; and
They were very happy to see Americans.
Now, this was about six months ago, and things may have changed. But I doubt the part about the French has, at least in this little hamlet...
Posted by: jsmith at 09:34 PM