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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 9/25/2003 12:54 PM (GMT -6) |   |
money.cnn.com/2003/09/25/news/companies/cheney/index.htm?cnn=yes
Congressional report finds Vice President still has financial interest in his old company.
September 25, 2003: 4:28 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (CNN) - A congressional report concludes that, under federal ethics standards, Vice President Dick Cheney still has a financial interest in Halliburton, the energy services company he used to run.
The report, by the Congressional Research Service, came at the request of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat and former player in the corporate world who has pushed Cheney on the issue.
The report says that the deferred compensation that Cheney receives from Halliburton as well as the more than 433,000 stock options he possesses "is considered among the 'ties' retained in or 'linkages to former employers' that may 'represent a continuing financial interest' in those employers which makes them potential conflicts of interest."
"As this C.R.S. report shows," Lautenberg said, "The ethics standards for financial disclosure is clear. Vice President Cheney has a financial interest in Halliburton."
On Sept. 14, Cheney said on the NBC News program "Meet the Press" that "Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years."
Cheney has insisted in the past that the deferred compensation was set up long before he became a candidate for the vice presidency. The money is insured in case the company goes under and Lautenberg acknowledged that the compensation received so far has been donated to charity.
Lautenberg also acknowledged that the president and the vice president are both exempt from the enforcement of ethics laws.
"I believe the vice president is an honorable man," Lautenberg said at a news conference, "I just think he made a mistake."
In a written release, Lautenberg said, "I ask the vice president to stop dodging the issue with legalese, and acknowledge his continued ties with Halliburton to the American people."
Lautenberg said $205,298 was paid to Cheney in deferred salary by Halliburton in 2001, and $162,392 last year. Lautenberg said Halliburton stock options held by Cheney were 100,000 shares at $54.50 per share, 33,333 shares at $28.125 and 300,000 shares at $39.50 per share.
Halliburton (HAL: Research, Estimates) stock closed Thursday at $24.72. The Morningstar stock rating service gives Halliburton a C-minus grade for growth, D-plus for profitability and a B for financial health, even though Halliburton secured $2.25 billion in contracts in Iraq, including a controversial $1.25 billion no-bid contract.
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 9/26/2003 7:18 AM (GMT -6) | | Cheney’s financial ties to Halliburton
http://www.msnbc.com/news/972131.asp?0cl=c3
Deferred compensation counts, report indicates
By Mike Allen
THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — A Congressional Research Service report released yesterday concluded that federal ethics laws treat Vice President Cheney’s annual deferred compensation checks and unexercised stock options as continuing financial interests in the Halliburton Co.
DEMOCRATS HAVE aggressively challenged Cheney’s claim that he has no financial ties to Halliburton, despite those arrangements.
The Houston-based energy conglomerate has been awarded more than $2 billion in contracts for rebuilding Iraq, including one worth $1.22 billion that was awarded on a noncompetitive basis.
The report, from the law division of the congressional research arm of the Library of Congress, said deferred salary or compensation received from a private corporation — as well as unexercised stock options — may represent a continuing financial interest as defined by federal ethics laws.
The seven-page report, dated Monday, did not name Cheney or Halliburton, but addressed the general legal question. It was prepared at the request of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who said Cheney should “stop dodging the issue with legalese, and acknowledge his continued financial ties with Halliburton to the American people.”
Cheney, who was Halliburton’s chairman and chief executive, has disclosed the payments and the 433,333 options. The report suggests no illegality.
Catherine Martin, Cheney’s public affairs director, said: “The vice president has no financial interest in Halliburton. He has no stake in the company. He will in no way benefit from the rise or fall of Halliburton’s stock price or the success or failure of the company.”
Cheney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sept. 14 that he has “no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven’t had now for over three years.” His assertion came during a discussion of Halliburton’s contracts in Iraq. Cheney said he had “severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests.”
DEMOCRATS DISPUTE CLAIM
Democrats disputed that because Cheney received deferred compensation of $147,579 in 2001 and $162,392 in 2002, with payments scheduled to continue for three more years.
In response, Cheney’s office said he had purchased an insurance policy so he would be paid even if Halliburton failed. And his office also has announced he has agreed to donate the after-tax proceeds from his stock options to three charities.
However, the congressional report said that neither the insurance policy nor the charity designation would change the public official’s disclosure obligation.
The continuing controversy over Cheney’s statement puts him in the position of drawing criticism to the White House. In the past, White House officials have considered him a reassuring figure for viewers and voters.
Bush issued what amounted to a correction of another statement Cheney made on “Meet the Press.” When asked about the possibility of a connection between former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Cheney said, “We don’t know.” Three days later, Bush said in response to a question that the government has no evidence of such a link.
The liberal group American Family Voices has spent more than $300,000 to run ads about Halliburton’s connection to the administration. The group said the commercials are effective for raising money. The ads — on cable in Washington and on broadcast television in New Hampshire and battleground states of the Midwest — began last week and will run for at least another week, the group said.
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 10/1/2003 11:11 AM (GMT -6) | | St. Paul (Minnesota) PIONEER PRESS
Published Saturday, September 20, 2003
AD REPEATS LETTERMAN'S BUSH JOKE
By Brian Faler,
WASHINGTON POST
It was just a joke, an aside in a monologue last week by talk show host David Letterman.
President Bush "is asking Congress for $80 billion to help rebuild Iraq," Letterman cracked. "And when you make out that check, remember there are two L's in Halliburton."
But the quip has found a second life in a new television ad campaign attacking the Bush administration's connections to the oil industry giant. The Democratic-leaning activ-ist group American Family Voices uses the line in a spot accusing the administration of cronyism and Halliburton of profiteering.
"Billions of tax dollars going directly to Halliburton through sweetheart, no-bid government contracts," the announcer in the ad says, after quoting the Letterman joke. "Meanwhile, our soldiers are being asked to sacrifice — and here at home, budgets for education, health care, even veterans' benefits are being slashed."
Bush actually requested $87 billion — to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, but mostly for the Pentagon. Vice President Dick Cheney was chairman and chief executive of the Texas-based conglomerate before becoming Bush's running mate in 2000. As for Halliburton, it has won at least $1.7 billion in Iraqi reconstruction contracts — and stands to make millions more through a no-bid government contract.
The ads will run for at least a week in the District of Columbia and five swing states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Hampshire and Missouri.
The campaign comes at a time when the administration needs to do some persuading. Six in 10 Americans oppose the president's request, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Democrats, meanwhile, have stepped up their criticisms of the vice president's connections to Halliburton in recent days.
[end]
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 10/1/2003 11:14 AM (GMT -6) | |
PIONEER PRESS, St. Paul, Minnesota
October 1, 2003
CONSULTANT FOR WORK IN IRAQ HAS TIES TO BUSH
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A company that was created to help clients take advantage of business opportunities in Iraq is made up of businessmen associated with President Bush, his family and his administration.
The connections drew criticism Tuesday from Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who called for an independent oversight board to ensure that Iraq reconstruction money is doled out fairly.
New Bridge Strategies, on its Web site, says it will "seek to expedite the creation of free and fair markets and new economic growth in Iraq, consistent with the policies of the Bush administration."
The firm is headed by Joe Allbaugh, Bush's campaign manager in 2000 and director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency until March. Other directors include Edward Rogers Jr., vice chairman, and Lanny Griffith.
Both were assistants to the first President Bush and now are closely linked to the White House.
"This is an administration of the insiders, by the insiders and for the insiders. This is just further evidence of it," Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.
"Vice President Cheney's Halliburton has more than $2 billion in Iraq reconstruction contracts and we now find out that Bush's campaign manager, Joe Allbaugh, who just left government, has set up a business to procure business contracts on Iraq."
New Bridge President John Howland said in a story published in Tuesday's editions of the New York Times that the company did not intend to seek any U.S. government contracts itself, but might be a middleman to advise other companies that seek taxpayer-financed business. The main focus would be to advise companies that seek opportunities in the private sector in Iraq, including licenses to market products there.
The company's existence was first reported in The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress.
Howland said the company was not trying to promote its political connections.
He said that although Allbaugh, for example, had spent most of his career "in the political arena, there's a lot of cross-pollination between that world and the one that exists in Iraq today."
Asked about Allbaugh's business dealings, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters
"He no longer works for the administration. There are certain obligations you have under ethics laws when you work in the administration. And I fully expect he would be adhering to those."
Bush is seeking congressional approval for $20.3 billion to rebuild Iraq, part of an $87 billion package for military and other needs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As part of the administration's postwar work in Iraq, the government has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to American businesses.
Administration officials have said all future contracts will be issued only as a result of competitive bidding.
New Bridge Strategies was created in May and recently began full-fledged operations, including opening an office in Iraq, the Times said.
[end]
Online:
New Bridge Strategies: www.newbridgestrategies.com
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 10/1/2003 11:59 AM (GMT -6) | |
==================================================
New Bridge Strategies
HELPING REBUILD A NEW IRAQ
http://www.newbridgestrategies.com/
New Bridge Strategies, LLC is a unique company that was created specifically with the aim of assisting clients to evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Its activities will seek to expedite the creation of free and fair markets and new economic growth in Iraq, consistent with the policies of the Bush Administration. The opportunities evolving in Iraq today are of such an unprecedented nature and scope that no other existing firm has the necessary skills and experience to be effective both in the United States and on the ground in Iraq.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
WHO WE ARE:
http://www.newbridgestrategies.com/whoweare.asp
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bios:
http://www.newbridgestrategies.com/bios.asp
Although New Bridge Strategies is a new company, the principals of our company are seasoned veterans in dealing with foreign countries and commerce. A listing of people who make New Bridge Strategies your bridge to success in Iraq is below.
.
.
Joe M. Allbaugh, Chairman and Director
Joe M. Allbaugh is the CEO of The Allbaugh Company, LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based corporate strategy and counsel firm. A native of Oklahoma, Joe served as the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under President George Bush until March 2003. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., he was Chief of Staff to then-Governor Bush of Texas and was the National Campaign Manager for the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign.
_________________________________________________
Ed Rogers, Vice Chairman and Director
Ed Rogers is Vice Chairman of Barbour Griffith & Rogers, Inc., the firm he founded with Haley Barbour in 1991. From January of 1989 until August of 1991, Ed served as the Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States and Executive Assistant to the White House Chief of Staff. Additionally, Ed was the Senior Deputy to Bush-Quayle Campaign Manager Lee Atwater, from February of 1987, through the general election in 1988. Ed also worked in the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Reagan Administration.
_________________________________________________
John Howland, President, CEO and Director
Prior to becoming President of New Bridge Strategies, John Howland was Executive Vice President of Crest Investment Company, of which he is a Principal. He has worked with Middle Eastern governments and companies, including Iraq (prior to 1989), for over twenty-five years in many areas including food distribution, transportation and oil and gas. John knows the politics of the Middle East and is very knowledgeable about Iraq and its future potential. During the years encompassing the Iran-Iraq war, he worked closely with the U.S. Government, providing food aid and logistical support to the Iraqi government.
_________________________________________________
Ambassador Richard Burt, Advisory Board Member
Richard Burt currently serves as the Chairman of Diligence, LLC and previously was a partner with McKinsey & Company from 1991-1994. Additionally, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1985 to 1989. His appointment to Bonn followed service in several key positions at the State Department, including Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs from 1983 to 1985 and Director of Politico-Military Affairs from 1981 to 1983. Ambassador Burt also serves as the International Director for Barbour Griffith & Rogers, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based government relations firm.
_________________________________________________
Jamal Daniel, Advisory Board Member
Jamal Daniel is a Principal with Crest Investment Company, which invests in a wide-range of business ventures and is based in Houston. Prior to his work with Crest Investment, Jamal was a Director of the Uniteg Investment Company, Inc., providing U.S. and international investors with comprehensive real estate services ranging from acquisition and construction to financing and sales. Additionally, Jamal has extensive experience in structuring investing in energy and oil and gas projects throughout the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
_________________________________________________
Larry Griffith , Director
Lanny Griffith is Chief Operating Officer at Barbour Griffith & Rogers, Inc. and joined the firm as partner in 1993. Previously, Lanny served former President George Bush as Assistant Secretary of Education for Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs from November 1991 until January 1993. Lanny also served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and was the Southern Political Director for the 1988 Bush-Quayle presidential campaign.
_________________________________________________
Lord Charles Powell, Advisory Board Member
Lord Powell is a cross-bench Member of the House of Lords and for several years served as Private Secretary on defense and foreign affairs for both Prime Ministers John Major and Lady Margaret Thatcher. Since 1992, Lord Powell has been an international businessman, sits on the boards of the Textron Corporation, Caterpillar, Inc., and Louis-Vuitton Moet-Hennessy (LVMH) and is a trustee of the British Museum.
_________________________________________________
L. Leigh Gribble, Managing Director, Kuwait
Prior to joining New Bridge Strategies, Leigh Gribble founded and managed Blackthorne Rhino, Ltd., a firm dedicated to providing technical consulting, liaison, and management services to multinational companies pursuing business opportunities in the defense, industrial, financial, and commercial sectors in the Middle East with emphasis on the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council Region. Leigh is a retired naval officer with over a decade of military, diplomatic, and commercial experience in the Middle East providing advice and support to key decision makers in the military, government, business and industry on wide variety of issues, topics and projects. Leigh currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the American Business Council of the Gulf Countries, and is a past-President of the American Business Council of Kuwait.
_________________________________________________
Ali Khan, Managing Director, Europe
Ali Khan has close to ten years experience in investment banking activities working with internationally renowned banks, and privately-owned asset management companies. This has included equity sales, sales trading, corporate finance and private equity. Ali has a successful track record in developing a network and business opportunities in China, the ASEAN region, Southern Africa, Europe, Middle-East and the US. Ali completed his MBA in International Management from Exeter University.
_________________________________________________
Mike Baker, Advisory Board Member
Mike Baker is the Chief Executive Officer and a founder of Diligence, LLC, a widely recognized corporate intelligence, strategic planning and corporate consulting firm with offices in Washington, D.C., London and Miami.
_________________________________________________
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 10/3/2003 4:13 AM (GMT -6) | | Greetings, Honorman:
Where did your posts disappear to?
Peace & blessings...
<>< | | Back to Top | | |
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 12/12/2003 9:08 AM (GMT -6) | | PIONEER PRESS, St. Paul, Minnesota
December 12, 2003
HEADLINE NEWS:
AUDIT SLAMS UNITED STATES WAR SUPPLIER
By Douglas Jehl,
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — Pentagon investigators have found evidence that a subsidiary of the politically connected Halliburton Co. overcharged the government by as much as $61 million for gasoline delivered to Iraq under huge no-bid reconstruction contracts, senior defense officials said Thursday.
The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root, also submitted a proposal for cafeteria services that inflated the cost by $67 million, but the Pentagon rejected it, the officials said.
The problems involving Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, were described in a preliminary report by auditors, the officials said.
The defense officials said they had no reason to believe the problems were anything other than "stupid mistakes" by Halliburton.
But they said the issues were a source of deep concern within the Pentagon, whose contracts with KBR were awarded without competitive bidding and have a potential value of $15.6 billion.
The company denied overcharging and called the inquiry a "routine audit."
Dov Zakheim, the Pentagon's budget chief, said "contractor improprieties and/or contract mischarging on department contracts will neither be condoned nor allowed to continue."
Halliburton, which had more than $12.5 billion in revenues in 2002, has emerged as a symbol for many opponents of the war in Iraq and who claimed the interests of such companies with political ties were given too much consideration by the administration.
Criticism of the company intensified when it received the no-bid contract worth billions of dollars to provide a variety of services in Iraq. Administration officials counter that few companies have the resources and expertise to carry out the work there.
Defense officials said the Pentagon was negotiating with KBR over how to resolve the issue over the fuel charges.
Michael Thibault, deputy director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, said a draft report by the agency has recommended that the Army Corps of Engineers seek reimbursement from the company.
Defense officials said Halliburton did not appear to have profited from the overcharging for fuel, but had instead paid a subcontractor too much for the gasoline in the first place.
Halliburton has said that one reason it needs to charge a high price for fuel is that it must be delivered in a combat zone. Several KBR workers have been killed or wounded in attacks by Iraqi insurgents.
Other questions, in a second contract with the Army, involve unacceptable delays by the Halliburton subsidiary in providing cost estimates to the government for dozens of separate projects under way in Iraq, Thibault said. These violations, for work that includes the construction of food, housing and other facilities for the military, could involve inflated costs as well, Thibault said.
Wendy Hall, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said in an e-mail message that the inquiry was part of a "routine audit" and said it was "not the fact that KBR has overcharged."
"KBR is confident its processes will continue to stand against the rigorous audits conducted by the defense contract auditing agency," Hall wrote.
Recent public estimates by the Army have put the current value of the Halliburton contracts at about $5 billion, considerably less than the figure cited by the auditors.
Thibault said it would be "premature" to describe the auditor's conclusions as final, saying the investigation was continuing and that the Halliburton subsidiary "deserves a chance to respond to our findings."
He said auditors expected to issue a final report this month, but added that the preliminary findings involved overcharging that was "potentially very substantial."
The two Halliburton contracts are the largest awarded by the Pentagon for work by private companies in Iraq.
Some Democrats have criticized the awarding of Iraq reconstruction contracts to the Halliburton subsidiary, saying the awards might appear to be a political payoff to a firm well-connected with Republicans.
But Bush administration and Halliburton officials have denied that politics played any role in the awarding the contracts to KBR, whose work in Iraq involves a contract with the Army Corps of Engineers for repairing and restoring Iraq's oil industry.
The initial value of the work was set at $7 billion. A second contract with the Army for logistical support has a maximum value of $8.6 billion, defense officials said.
Thibault would not be specific about the basis on which the auditors have found evidence that the Halliburton subsidiary has overcharged for the fuel it is providing in Iraq under the oil contract.
But government documents show the U.S. government is paying Halliburton an average of $2.64 a gallon to import gasoline to Iraq from Kuwait, more than twice what others are paying to truck in Kuwaiti fuel.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the leading congressional critic of the contract, said the report of the audit "confirms what we've known for months: Halliburton has been gouging taxpayers and the White House has been letting them get away with it."
"It is deplorable and we need to put an immediate end to it," Waxman said.
"There needs to be a top-to-bottom review of all the Iraqi contracts."
Defense Department and other government officials said a draft report of the Defense Contracting Audit Agency's finding was sent to KBR on Dec. 5, and included "harsh assessments" of KBR's handling of its contract for importing fuel from Kuwait to Iraq.
The company's work for the military in Iraq has evolved from work in putting out oilfield fires to overseeing rebuilding of Iraq's oil infrastructure and providing fuel for the country. KBR also provides support to U.S. troops, including serving meals.
Cheney is Halliburton's former chief executive officer. He left the company in 2000, after Bush asked him to become his vice presidential nominee.
[end]
======================
ALSO SEE:
Related article on page 13A of the St. Paul
PIONEER PRESS:
Excerpt:
"As workers began restoring the gutted
Ministry of Education building in Baghdad
on Thursday, President Bush stood by a
controversial policy restricting rebuilding
contracts to favored allies, although the
move was called a policymaking
"trainwreck...."
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 12/12/2003 9:14 AM (GMT -6) | | PIONEER PRESS, St. Paul, Minnesota
Friday, December 12, 2003
BUSH DEFENDS CONTRACT POLICY
By Warren P. Strobel and Ron Hutcheson
-- Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Thursday defended his decision to restrict Iraq rebuilding contracts to countries that supported the war, even as his aides acknowledged that the Pentagon's announcement of the new policy this week was badly mishandled.
The announcement, which alarmed and annoyed some U.S. allies, came as Bush prepared to launch a global campaign to get countries to forgive much of Iraq's crushing foreign debt, a key to the country's long-term reconstruction.
It could undermine that campaign, as well as U.S. moves to mend ties with countries in Europe and elsewhere that have been badly splintered by differences over the Iraq war.
"It was a train wreck," a top State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the decision-making process.
As finger-pointing began, U.S. officials said that while Bush had been informed and approved of the policy, the details and timing of the decision were left to civilian officials in the office of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The new policy bars France, Russia, Germany, Canada and other countries that are not counted as part of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq from competing for prime contracts in the $18.6 billion U.S. taxpayer-financed reconstruction program.
It was authored by Rumsfeld's deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and appeared Tuesday on a Web site run by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
While an international outcry continued Thursday, Bush made clear that he backed the decision.
"Let me make sure everybody understands that men and women from our country, who proudly wear our uniform, risked their life to free Iraq. Men and women from other countries, in a broad coalition, risked their lives to free Iraq. And the expenditure of U.S. dollars will reflect (that) fact," Bush said after a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
He made light of suggestions that the limits on competition might violate international trade law.
"International law? I better call my lawyer; he didn't bring that up to me," Bush said.
But the White House and State Department also tried to assuage some of the anger, saying that the list of 63 nations eligible to bid could be expanded.
"We have also made clear that circumstances can change and that the list of eligibility could change as circumstances change. It's not fixed in stone," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said Bush assured him that Canada would not be excluded.
Bush is sending James Baker, his father's secretary of state, to France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Britain next week to negotiate reductions in Iraq's estimated at $125 billion debt.
Lee Feinstein, acting director of the Council on Foreign Relations' Washington office, said the contract decision "makes it extremely difficult for any of the countries on the enemies list to support Bush administration policy in Iraq."
"If anybody can overcome this debacle, it's James Baker, but it's a really bad opening move," said Feinstein, who was a State Department official in the Clinton administration.
A top interagency group known as the Deputies' Committee approved the controversial new policy recently, officials have said.
But the timing of the Pentagon announcement came as a surprise to others in government, including the White House, a second senior state Department official said.
So did the wording of the Wolfowitz memo, said the official, who requested anonymity.
It was dated Dec. 5 and argued that limiting contract competition "is necessary for the protection of the essential security interests of the United States," a phrase that has infuriated U.S. allies.
The reaction has been most furious in Canada, which, while it opposed the war, has pledged $300 million in reconstruction aid for Iraq and sent troops to Afghanistan.
In a blistering editorial Thursday, the Toronto Star newspaper called the U.S. action a "crude display of pettiness" and an "inept insult."
The European Commission, the executive body of the 15-nation European Union, said it would examine the 26 contracts involved to determine whether the procurement restrictions violate World Trade Organization rules.
Bush also faced criticism at home from some of his conservative political allies who called the policy "heavy-handed and counterproductive."
Writing in the Weekly Standard magazine, William Kristol and Robert Kagan urged Bush to revoke the contract ban.
"He might as well do it sooner rather than later, so as to minimize the diplomatic damage," they wrote.
Anger in Europe isn't over being excluded from the contracts per se, but the wording of the decision and the way it was carried out, said a Western diplomat who requested anonymity.
[end]
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 12/12/2003 9:16 AM (GMT -6) | | PIONEER PRESS, St. Paul, Minnesota
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
IRAQ CONTRACTS RESTRICTED TO COALITION
By Douglas Jehl,
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6 billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying it was acting to protect "the essential security interests of the United States."
The directive, issued Dec. 5 by Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, represents the most substantive retaliation to date by the Bush administration against U.S. allies who opposed its decision to go to war in Iraq.
The administration had warned before the war that countries that did not join in a U.S.-led coalition would not have a voice in decisions about the rebuilding of Iraq. But it has not previously made clear that companies in those countries would be excluded from competing for a share in the money for Iraq's reconstruction that the United States approved last month.
Those funds will pay for a total of 26 lucrative contracts for rebuilding Iraq's electricity, oil and water sectors and equipping its army.
Under the guidelines, only companies from the United States, Iraq and 61 countries designated "coalition partners" will be allowed to bid on the contracts. France, Germany and Russia are not on the list.
The document does not spell out a rationale for its claim that excluding those three countries was necessary to protect U.S. national security interests. The guidelines do not affect subcontractors, the document makes clear, so companies that win contracts would be able to hire French, German or Russian firms to work in Iraq.
The document does say that the actions of the U.S.-led coalition in rebuilding Iraq "are indispensable for national security and national defense purposes," and that allowing only members of the coalition to bid for the contracts was intended as a reward and an incentive for further cooperation in the future.
Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement criticizing the Pentagon move as a "totally gratuitous slap" that "does nothing to protect our security interests and everything to alienate countries we need with us in Iraq."
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who recently returned from Iraq, said it was a mistake to exclude particular countries from the rebuilding effort.
"It strikes me that we should do whatever we can to draw in the French, the Germans, the Russians and others into the process," said Shays. "I would expect that most of the contracts would go to countries who have done the heavy lifting, but I wouldn't want to see any arbitrary effort to shut anyone out."
Nations whose companies are listed as eligible include Britain and Poland, whose troops joined U.S. forces in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, as well Spain, Italy and other countries that have contributed troops to the U.S.-led security effort. There are also nations whose support has been less evident, like Turkey, which allowed U.S. aircraft to fly over its territory but which moved at the last minute to reject a U.S. plan to use the country as a staging point to invade Iraq from the north.
At a time when the United States has moved to heal the diplomatic wounds inflicted in the run-up to the war, the memorandum by Wolfowitz is a blunt reminder of the bitterness still felt within the administration about the stance taken by their close partners, France, Germany, and Russia, who led international opposition to the war in their roles as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
But U.S. bases in Germany have been important staging areas for transport aircraft carrying out supply and humanitarian missions and France has allowed overflights by U.S. military aircraft.
France and Germany were among the countries that declined to pledge contributions toward Iraq's reconstruction in Madrid in October, though the European Union, in which they are dominating members, pledged $235 million, according to the World Bank's tally. France, Germany and Russia have declined to contribute troops to the U.S.-led occupation force.
Defense Department officials said Wolfowitz made his decision after discussions with representatives of other agencies, including the State Department.
A State Department official said Tuesday night that "we are committed to putting the past behind us" in relations with countries that opposed the war. But, the official added, "This is taxpayers' money, and so we have got to go with those who have pitched in already."
[end]
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 12/12/2003 9:19 AM (GMT -6) | |
Published Wednesday, December 11, 2003
THE STAR Newspaper,
Toronto, Canada
Editorial:
UNITED STATES SLAPS AT FRIENDS
Canada's prosperity hardly hinges on picking up a chunk of Iraq's reconstruction program. But U.S. President George Bush makes no friends here by spitefully freezing us out of the bidding for contracts.
Certainly, he has chosen a graceless way to welcome incoming Prime Minister Paul Martin, punishing Canada for being a principled ally and even implying that we're a threat to U.S. "security interests."
In a crude display of pettiness that Martin, like many Canadians, finds hard to fathom, Bush has barred countries that did not take part in the war on Iraq and which aren't keen to be occupiers, from bidding for $18 billion in U.S.-funded contracts to patch the place together. This cold shoulder is "totally appropriate," the White House insists.
Nice try, folks. But no sale.
Along with most of the world, Canadians differed with the Bush administration on the need to attack Saddam Hussein's regime. But we have been a staunch ally where it matters. We don't deserve to be stiffed for our principles, or bribed to park them at the door.
Just this week, U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci praised us for our "pretty significant" help in Afghanistan and for being "quite generous" with Iraq aid. He had reason.
Canada has earmarked $10 billion to carry our share of North America's military defence and security after 9/11. Our troops fought and died in Afghanistan with our U.S. ally. Some 2,000 Canadian soldiers are in Kabul now, leading the force there.
And Ottawa has budgeted $300 million directly to help rebuild Iraq, at Washington's request.
Yet that's not enough for Bush, it seems. He demanded our moral acquiescence to his unnecessary war and now seeks our participation in an increasingly violent occupation.
To this, Martin can have only one answer: Canadians won't be browbeaten, bullied or bought.
But nor should we react with Bush-style pettiness to this inept insult.
Deputy Prime Minister John Manley suggests we may reconsider our $300 million aid. That would only hurt Iraqis, who have suffered enough. They don't need a Canadian betrayal added to their misery. Let's spend the money as planned.
That said, Ottawa should feel no compulsion to send troops, police or other personnel to Iraq to help extricate Bush from the quagmire he has encountered there. Our partnership needn't extend so far.
And the next contribution Canada makes to Iraq's rebuilding should be to a duly elected Iraqi government, not to a puppet regime run by people who can't tell friends from foes.
[end]
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 12/12/2003 9:21 AM (GMT -6) | | December 11, 2003
THE STAR Newspaper,
Toronto, Canada
E.U. CALLS CLOSED IRAQ CONTRACTS 'GRATUITOUS'
By Robert H. Reid
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Europe's foreign affairs chief, adding his voice today to criticism of Washington, called the U.S. decision to bar opponents of the war in Iraq from reconstruction contracts "gratuitous and unhelpful" when unity is needed.
But the British government said Washington was fully entitled to limit construction contracts in Iraq to countries that were part of the U.S.-led coalition.
The White House said the ban was not up for reconsideration, though it told critics the Bush administration "will welcome the opportunity to talk to them and explain to them about why this decision was made."
Amid the furor, the United States postponed a conference that was to have taken place today for companies seeking reconstruction contracts in Iraq. The conference, at which the contract requests were to have been made public, is now scheduled for Dec. 19 at a hotel near Washington Dulles International Airport. The delay was blamed on scheduling conflicts.
The White House says countries wanting a share of the $18.6 billion in reconstruction contracts in the 2004 U.S. budget must participate militarily in the postwar effort.
The European Commission called the contract ban a "political mistake," and said it would examine the contracts to see if Washington had violated its commitments to the World Trade Organization.
"This is a gratuitous and extremely unhelpful decision at a time when there is a general recognition of the need for the international community to work together for stability and reconstruction in Iraq," Chris Patten, the European Union's commissioner for international relations, said through a spokesperson.
French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin all raised the contracting issue during previously scheduled telephone calls with President Bush yesterday.
However, Britain, which says it will award contracts on merit and has not excluded any countries, expressed support for the U.S. policy. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it was up to the United States to decide how it spent its tax revenue.
"The United States Congress is fully entitled to say the tax dollars are spent in one way, which in this particular case is contracts limited to those active allies in Iraq, rather than another way," said Straw. "We have talked to them about it but the decision is for them, not ours."
Critics have said the ban could complicate American efforts to restructure Iraq's estimated $125 billion debt, largely owed to France, Germany, Russia. The three nations are excluded from contracts under the Pentagon directive.
Russia signalled it would take a hard line on restructuring after being excluded from contracts.
"Iraq's debt to the Russia Federation comes to $8 billion and as far as the Russian government's position on this, it is not planning any kind of a write-off of that debt," Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters. "Iraq is not a poor country."
Russia's foreign minister suggested the contract ban could undermine the international campaign against terrorism.
"The activities in Iraq split the international community and reduced its possibilities in the fight against international terrorism," Igor Ivanov said at a news conference in Munich.
"No further steps or activities that would lead to a further division can be allowed today," Ivanov said.
Germany said there was "no direct link" between debt relief and the U.S. exclusion of German companies from reconstruction contracts.
"The stabilization of Iraq is also in Germany's strategic interest," Bela Anda, spokesperson for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, told The Associated Press.
France has made no official comment on the contract ban, but political analysts said the French government was stunned, after what appeared to be months of warming ties between Paris and Washington following France's opposition to the U.S.-led war.
"Paris has the feeling that the (U.S.) Secretary of Defence has decided to use some kind of retaliation, which was considered four or five months ago, but didn't seem to be on the agenda right now," said Francois Gere, director of the Paris-based Diplomatic and Defence Institute.
President Bush is sending James A. Baker abroad to lobby for restructuring and reducing Iraq's debt. Baker is expected to hold talks in Berlin before Christmas, the German government statement said.
"If additional countries want to participate with our efforts in Iraq, then circumstances can change," White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said.
He said companies from anti-war countries could compete for contracts being financed by a separate international fund that the White House estimates will be worth $13 billion. Also, the ban does not prevent companies from winning subcontracts.
Such prospects, however, did little to assuage international anger over the directive issued by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in a memo dated Friday and posted on a Pentagon Web site Tuesday.
Canada's deputy prime minister, John Manley, said yesterday that the decision would make it "difficult for us to give further money for the reconstruction of Iraq." Canadian officials said the country has contributed $225 million thus far.
Paul Martin, who becomes prime minister tomorrow, said the Pentagon decision was "really very difficult to fathom" and that he would raise the issue with U.S. officials.
[end]
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/12/2003 10:20 AM (GMT -6) | | | The EU is unhappy; I , for one, will sleep well tonight. What you sow you will reap...reap well France, Russia, Germany you hurt your own countries... | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 12/14/2003 6:24 AM (GMT -6) | | Here is the perspective of William Kristol, the vaunted Conservative columnist on the matter of contracts.
Contracts for Iraq: Reverse the Pentagon's Decision
by William Kristol and Robert Kagan
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/481yjxxw.asp
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 with other governments -- such as those of Britain, Spain and Poland -- who have courageously stood with us, and who hold the promise of continuing to be more helpful to us. We have even been critical of the Bush Administration for a certain lack of imagination in finding ways to work constructively with these friendly governments. But this particular effort by the Pentagon to reward friends and punish enemies is stupid, and should be abandoned.
A deviously smart American administration would have quietly distributed contracts for rebuilding Iraq as it saw fit, without any announced policy of discrimination. At the end of the day, it would be clear that opponents of American policy didn't fare too well in the bidding process. Message delivered, but with a certain subtlety.
A more clever American administration would have thrown a contract or two to a couple of those opponents, to a German firm, for instance, as a way of wooing at least the business sectors in
a country where many businessmen do want to strengthen ties with the United States.
A truly wise American administration would have opened the bidding to all comers, regardless of their opposition to the war -- as a way of buying those countries into the Iraq effort, building a little goodwill for the future, and demonstrating to the world a little magnanimity.
But instead of being smart, clever, or magnanimous, the Bush Administration has done a dumb thing. The announcement of a policy of discriminating against French, German, and Russian firms has made credible European charges of vindictive pettiness and general disregard for the opinion of even fellow liberal democracies. More important, it has made former Secretary of State James Baker's very important effort to get these countries, among others, to offer debt relief for the new government of Iraq almost impossible. This is to say nothing of other areas where we need to work with these governments.
This decision is a blunder. We trust it will be reversed.
Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes." | | Back to Top | | |
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 12/14/2003 1:38 PM (GMT -6) | | Published in the
PIONEER PRESS, (St. Paul, Minnesota)
December 13, 2003
BUSH CONFRONTS SUPPLIER FUROR
By Maura Reynolds and Esther Schrader
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — President Bush tried Friday to tamp down a political ruckus over Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, saying he expects Halliburton and its subsidiaries working in Iraq to repay the government for any improper overcharges.
Democrats on the campaign trail and in Congress pounced on the news Thursday that a Pentagon audit had found as much as $61 million in excess charges for oil deliveries to Iraq, accusing Bush of allowing Halliburton to engage in "war-profiteering" at taxpayer expense.
"If there's an overcharge, like we think there is, we expect that money to be repaid," Bush said after nominating Alphonso Jackson to be his new secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
But Bush's words did little to quell the uproar, fueled by indignant Democratic presidential candidates.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said the deal was lining "the pockets of well-connected corporations." Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., accused Halliburton of "war profiteering."
The Halliburton allegations go back to October, when Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, complained that the company had charged more than double what other government agencies paid to import fuel into Iraq.
On Friday, Waxman said the Pentagon investigation showed that "the Bush administration has a lot of things to answer for. … At best, you could come to the conclusion it's mismanagement. At worst, it's substantial profiteering."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan tried to play down the matter, suggesting that the Pentagon-oversight process was working.
"The Pentagon discovered some things that they felt needed to be looked into further, and we expect them to get to the bottom of it," he said.
The allegations, if confirmed, could hold political peril for Bush because they reinforce the views of critics who accuse him of doing favors for his friends and contributors.
The accusations also may bolster suspicions of many in the Arab world who believe that the real motivation for the U.S. war against Iraq is a desire to control or profit from the Iraqi oil industry.
"Bush's statement today suggests the White House sees the potential political damage and is trying to keep it from developing into a major story," said Thomas Mann, a political analyst with the Brookings Institution.
Halliburton provides construction, engineering and logistics services to the oil and gas industry. Cheney became Halliburton's president and CEO in 1995 and held the positions until he ran for vice president in 2000.
The current political storm built after the Pentagon said this week that auditors had found evidence of "substantial overcharging" in $1.2 billion of gasoline sales by the company.
An internal audit of charges for fuel trucked into Iraq found that Halliburton's construction and engineering subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root, may have overcharged the Army by $1.09 per gallon for nearly 57 million gallons of gasoline.
Defense officials asserted that the Halliburton subsidiary didn't profit from the fuel price discrepancy. They said the problems were likely "stupid mistakes" by Halliburton, which may have paid a Kuwaiti subcontractor too much for the gasoline in the first place.
They said Halliburton and the Pentagon were negotiating a possible settlement of the matter, which could include repayment by Halliburton.
A Halliburton executive said KBR was required by the Army Corps of Engineer to buy some of the higher-priced Kuwaiti fuel and was only permitted to do business in Kuwait with companies approved by the government-owned Kuwait National Petroleum Co.
The executive, who declined to be identified, said the subsidiary picked the lowest eligible bidder that met all of the Corps' requirements.
Some Democrats in Congress have questioned why KBR bought more expensive fuel from Kuwait when it paid less for fuel from Turkey. According to government documents, KBR paid $1.17 per gallon in Kuwait and 89 cents in Turkey.
But a spokesman for the Corps said the agency told KBR it could not just import fuel from a single source because "there was a great risk that any supply course was likely to be disrupted at some point."
He added that Turkey did not have the capacity to supply all of the fuel and that an Army Corps audit of the oil contract found nothing inappropriate.
The alleged overcharges by KBR are part of a series of irregularities in business practices by Halliburton and its subsidiary being investigated by Pentagon auditors, said defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
The companies have been awarded two contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, one of which was awarded without competition. Together, they are worth more than $5 billion.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday he believes the Pentagon caught the overcharge in time to avoid paying the Halliburton subsidiary.
[end]
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 12/14/2003 1:42 PM (GMT -6) | | Published in the
PIONEER PRESS, (St. Paul, Minnesota)
December 14, 2003
PAYBACK FITS BUSH'S PATTERN
By Ron Hutcheson,
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — President Bush's decision to take revenge on countries that opposed the war in Iraq shocked the diplomatic world, but it fits his longstanding pattern of rewarding friends and punishing enemies.
In a family that prizes loyalty, Bush is known for playing hardball with anyone who crosses him. By his description, he was the chief loyalty enforcer in his father's White House. Later, as governor of Texas, he cracked the whip on Republicans who failed to back his policies — a practice he has taken with him to Washington.
"He's a velvet hammer. He can charm with the best of them, but he can also cut you off at the knees if he thinks you've got it coming," said Thomas DeFrank, a Washington journalist who has firsthand experience with Bush's wrath. "He never forgets."
Now Bush is making sure that foreign critics of his Iraq policy pay a price by denying them a major role in Iraq's reconstruction. Companies based in the offending countries will not be allowed to serve as prime contractors on any Iraq projects.
Although the policy was drafted and announced at the Pentagon, Bush gave it his full support. In his view, countries that opposed the war should not reap any financial benefit from the sacrifices of American troops and their foreign allies.
The policy has provoked outrage in Canada, Russia, Germany and France, all of which are on the contract blacklist. Even some of Bush's Republican allies have criticized his approach.
But some longtime Bush watchers weren't surprised.
"He has this thing about personal loyalty," said Tom Pauken, a Dallas businessman who headed the Texas Republican Party when Bush was governor. "It's: If you're not with us 100 percent, you're against us. And the more independent you are, the more you're against us."
Loyalty has always been a highly valued trait in the close-knit Bush family.
When Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, was president, the younger Bush served as the president's eyes and ears within the White House.
"I was the enforcer when I thought things were going wrong," he told Washington writer Ann Grimes for her 1990 book on political spouses. "I had the ability to go and lay down some behavioral modification."
No transgression was too big or too minor for his attention.
In 1991, Bush helped force John Sununu's resignation as White House chief of staff by telling Sununu that he had become a liability to the president. He made political adviser Lee Atwater apologize to first lady Barbara Bush for his lack of discretion after Atwater posed for Esquire magazine in boxer shorts.
Rep. Chris Shays, a moderate Republican from Connecticut, ran afoul of Bush by voting against his father's 1989 legislative program more than any other GOP lawmaker. Bush called Dorothy Stapleton, Shays' chief campaign fund-raiser, and told her to rein in the maverick congressman.
Bush turned his anger on DeFrank, then a White House correspondent for Newsweek, when the magazine published a cover story exploring the notion that the elder Bush was a "wimp."
DeFrank, now Washington bureau chief for the New York Daily News, had been promised inside access during the re-election campaign. Bush revoked the offer.
"You're out of business," he told the reporter.
As governor of Texas, Bush demanded loyalty from his fellow Republicans.
Republican state Rep. Toby Goodman said Bush sought his support for property tax reductions near the start of the 1997 legislative session by grabbing Goodman's lapels during a face-to-face encounter.
"I want to bring those property taxes down," Bush told the legislator, "and I'm going to kick your butt if you don't go along with me."
Pauken, the former state GOP chairman, said his relationship with Bush soured when he refused to back the property tax bill.
Bush also has sought to enforce loyalty from the White House. Three months after taking office, he set the tone for his administration by abruptly firing Mike Parker as head of the Army Corps of Engineers after Parker publicly disagreed with cuts in the agency's budget.
The hardball tactics backfired later in 2001 when Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont quit the Republican Party and became an independent, giving control of the Senate to the Democrats. Sources close to Jeffords said his decision was at least partly the result of White House efforts to punish him for opposing elements of Bush's agenda.
The White House retaliation over Iraq also has produced a backlash. Administration officials acknowledge that the anger in foreign capitals will make it harder for Bush to persuade other countries to forgive debts owed by Iraq.
Still, Bush shows no signs of backing down.
"It's very simple," he said in defense of the policy. "Our people risk their lives. Friendly coalition folks risk their lives. Therefore, the contracting is going to reflect that."
[end]
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Mayflower
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 445
| Posted 12/16/2003 6:40 PM (GMT -6) | | December 16, 2003
PIONEER PRESS, St. Paul Minnesota
EDITORIAL:
SADDAM'S REMOVAL: Capture is opportunity for wider foreign cooperation
The capture of Saddam Hussein gives the Bush administration a second chance to get the Day After right by re-making the reconstruction of Iraq into a genuine international enterprise.
The more the United States is able to use the certainty that Saddam will never return to power as a level, the greater the opportunity to mend fences with traditional allies who have differed with the United States about Iraq. And the more countries that step up to share the reconstruction burdens, the sooner a stable Iraq can emerge on its own two feet. And the sooner American men and women can come home. President Bush is striking the right tone in his post-capture remarks, notably on Monday when he said that the Iraqi people will have a hand in Saddam's trial, a trial the president expects to stand up to international scrutiny for standards of fairness.
The spectacular success of capturing the former dictator without resistance represents a moment of great opportunity for the administration to hear and heed the better angels of its nature. Initiatives that last week appeared to be fools' errands now have potential.
The mission by former Secretary of State James Baker, who has been dispatched to seek debt reduction on behalf of Iraq among its creditors, including Germany, Russia and France, has a more assuring message to sell than before the cloud of Saddam was blown away. If only the hard-line chest-beaters of unilateralism can chill out and let Baker and other dedicated diplomats work. We hope and trust that the arguments for increasing internationalism will have a powerful place at the table even during Secretary of State Colin Powell's absence to recuperate from surgery.
Removing Saddam definitively, too, helps President Bush put away his stick and extend access to reconstruction contracts to all nations of good will with expertise and interest in contributing to a successful and swifter rebuilding mission in oil-rich Iraq. Last week, Bush was in a reward-your-friends-only mode. The moment is right to soften and redefine the "coalition of the willing." Such an embrace has potential to get the work done more quickly. It has even greater potential to improve U.S. credibility in Iraq itself, in the world community and throughout the Arab Street.
On Monday, Bush termed Hussein's capture "a transforming event'' not only for Iraq but for the cause of peace in the Mideast and elsewhere. He wisely cautioned again not to confuse the surge of optimism about Saddam for light at the end of the tunnel.
The challenge from this opportunity is how to make the most of "a transforming event'' as leverage for more effective outcomes with international communities willing to help Iraq build a peaceful post-Saddam nation from its disparate and devastated parts.
[end]
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