Where you left your keys ...Rick's Cafe Americain

I thought this was a case of throwing out tens of thousands of babies with the bathwater, but frequent (only) commenter Danny disagreed.  The ensuing dialogue can be found here.  The back-and-forth ended when I wrote, “I will reserve comment, but I expect you to apologize publicly when we start hearing about how there aren’t enough teachers in Iraq, and Bremer is forced to consider re-hiring all of the “Baathists” who could have been retrained already.”

Well, in light of this story in today’s LA Times ("Coalition Revisits Purge of Baathists”, registration required), I’d say I’m due an apology.

Yes despite the unmitigated evil that Saddam has committed, our president will not stoop to his level, instead he promises a fair trial by the Iraqi people themselves. That’s Great! But I imagine it’s a lot easier to grant the fundamental rights of a democratic nation to a man whose fate has already been sealed. I don’t care who tries Saddam, the only question is whether he will rot in a cell for the rest of his life, or be killed; frankly I’m not sure which I prefer. It’s to bad Bush won’t grant the same freedoms to the Guantanamo bay prisoners , some of which are American citizens, as he will to a Genocidal maniac responsible for the death of 400,000 innocent people

Yes despite the unmitigated evil that Saddam has committed, our president will not stoop to his level, instead he promises a fair trial by the Iraqi people themselves. That’s Great! But I imagine it’s a lot easier to grant the fundamental rights of a democratic nation to a man whose fate has already been sealed. I don’t care who tries Saddam, the only question is whether he will rot in a cell for the rest of his life, or be killed; frankly I’m not sure which I prefer. It’s to bad Bush won’t grant the same freedoms to the Guantanamo bay prisoners , some of which are American citizens, as he will to a Genocidal maniac responsible for the death of 400,000 innocent people

It remains to be seen what, if anything, Saddam was doing while hiding in his 6x8 spider-hole, other than working on his Santa costume, but the capture of Iraq’s former dictator is good news for everybody.  Morale among the occupying troops must be through the roof, and the vast majority of Iraqis are celebrating, and no doubt breathing a sigh of relief.  Those who remain loyal to Hussein have had their leader captured and revealed as a coward.

Although the resistance and insurgence met in recent months by occupation forces were likely not the work of Saddam loyalists as much as America-haters, many from neighboring countries, we can only hope that the capture of Saddam will have a net positive effect by strengthening the confidence and will of the Iraqi people, and by weakening the resolve of those who would undermine the reconstruction effort.  Hats off to the fine soldiers who executed the picture-perfect capture.  Now if we could only find Osama .  . .

The directive is clearly a retaliative gesture—the “consequences” Powell and others warned of in the days before the invasion, when Germany, France, Russia and others refused to kowtow to America’s bullying.  But this Wonderland approach to policy is nothing new for the Bush Administration, and we should not be surprised that our government is now punishing other nations for declining to join us in what was a clear violation of international law.  Wolfowitz’ putative justification is itself worthy of Carroll (or Orwell):  “Limiting competition for prime contracts will encourage the expansion of international cooperation in Iraq and in future efforts.” I haven’t heard dyslogic that vertiginous since Wolfowitz’ boss told us that increased attacks in Iraq were a sign of progress. (We must be doing really well right now!).

The really curious thing about all this, however, is that back in April, the House passed an appropriations bill that, among other things, excluded Germany, Russia and France from the reconstruction of Iraq.  Among those who voted for H.R. 1559 (see Title III) were Republican Congressmen Shays and Wolf.  However, the White House blocked the measure in the Senate.

Meanwhile, the same Shays and Wolf who voted for HR1559 today released a report advising that “[t]he Administration should redouble efforts to internationalize the rebuilding of Iraq. Administration efforts to bring other countries in to help rebuild Iraq should be rejuvenated. New diplomatic initiatives are needed to garner additional international cooperation and support.” What happened?

I can only speculate, and I must admit I find it quite puzzling, but let me throw this out for discussion: could it be that the administration is positioning itself for yet another invasion?  Wolfowitz’s language in the declaration suggests that this is not just punitive, but intended to have a deterrent effect as well: “Limiting competition for prime contracts will encourage the expansion of international cooperation in Iraq and in future efforts.” Suddenly, the absurd statement makes sense—by excluding them from the “spoils of war” now, we increase the likelihood that they will join us “in future efforts”.  What future efforts?  Syria?  Iran? North Korea?  Who can say?  But if it is in the works, we can be sure it will be timed carefully, with both eyes firmly focused on November.

There is, of course, another reason for the administration to exclude the “coalition of the unwilling” from the reconstruction.  Even if the Bush administration had outlawed profiteering in the reconstruction, whom are the Bush/Cheney stable of companies more likely to compete successfully against: French, German and Russian companies, or companies from countries counted as members of the “coalition of the willing", including such notable industrial powerhouses as Albania, Macedonia, El Salvador, Slovenia, Iceland, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan?

Whatever the motives behind this new directive, it will only serve to heighten international tensions and animosity while unnecessarily limiting the options available to the Iraqi people in their reconstruction.