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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/10/2003 6:52 PM (GMT -6) |   | | http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_contracts&cid=540&ncid=716 | | Back to Top | | |
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DLW
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457
| Posted 12/11/2003 6:44 AM (GMT -6) | | Storm over US contract ban widens
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3310935.stm
Annan and Schroeder both condemn the US contracting ban
The UN Secretary General has added his voice to criticism of Washington's decision to bar countries opposing the Iraq war from reconstruction contracts.
Kofi Annan said on Thursday that the decision was "unfortunate".
Rejected countries - such as France, Russia and Germany - have denounced the ban and the EU's foreign affairs commissioner has kept up the pressure.
The US, however, has defended the move saying its aim is to encourage more countries to join the coalition.
Divisive
Mr Annan made his comment during a news conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
"The [American] decision was unfortunate," he said on Thursday.
Mr Annan told reporters that it was time to "rebuild international consensus".
"Every decision should be unifying," he added.
"I would not characterise the decision as unifying."
Telephone calls
The announcement by Washington bars opponents of the war in Iraq from bidding for prime reconstruction contracts worth $18.6bn.
Oil contracts are among the lucrative tenders on offer
The move was also sharply criticised by European Union External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten on Thursday.
"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," he said.
Mr Schroeder - along with Presidents Jacques Chirac of France and Vladimir Putin of Russia - raised the contracting issue during telephone calls with US President George W Bush on Wednesday.
Tough
The White House says the ban is not up for reconsideration - though it adds that the administration "will welcome the opportunity to talk to them and explain to them about why this decision was made".
GUIDE TO IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION
26 contracts worth $18.6bn, including:
Water services
Power generation
Oil infrastructure
New Iraq army equipment
Full list of US contracts
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President Bush fully supported the policy to award contracts to war allies.
"These are countries that have been with us from day one," he said. "These are countries that are contributing forces, that have been making sacrifices, and that's why this decision was made".
The US defence department, for its part, said the move was not a punishment and the list of those eligible was not closed or fixed.
Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said it was hoped more countries might consider joining the US-led coalition.
The 26 contracts - covering areas such as oil, power, communications and housing - are on offer to firms from the US, Iraq and countries involved in the coalition effort.
The ban only applies to prime contracts, not subcontracts.
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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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/11/2003 10:15 AM (GMT -6) | | | Did France, Germany and Russia really think we would forget that they didn't support us? Our soldiers died, not theirs...countries who had soldiers should benefit. | | Back to Top | | |
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honorman
Registered Member
Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137
| Posted 12/12/2003 5:43 AM (GMT -6) | | | Personally, I am more interested in our country doing the right thing than in international governance. I have little if no interest in that. Most of those countries either hate us or are jealous of us. Either way they have no interest in doing right by us. But is doesn't surprise me that your politics swing that way, DLW. Mexico should be glad to have you. | | Back to Top | | |
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