The talking heads and pundits are all in an uproar today, talking about what they percieve as a major gaffe in our foreign policy.  President Bush is sending former Secretary of State James Baker to convince countries owed money by Saddam to "forgive, restructure or reduce" those debts so that the new government of Iraq isn't crushed underneath them. At the same time, it was announced that only Coalition partners can bid on the Iraqi reconstruction projects specifically paid for by the US government... in other words, only those countries which risked something to liberate Iraq -- whether that was troops, materials, or being told to "shut up" by Jaques Chirac -- should benefit from American taxpayer dollars.  Neither of these things has much to do with the other, except that the same countries which we're asking to forgive Iraq's debt, we are also excluding from being the primary bidders on the American-paid portion of the reconstruction.  There are several circumstances that those attacking the Bush Administration over this don't seem to realise.

Forgiving the debts of Saddam has nothing to do with us, only with the future of Iraq.  We don't owe them any money; the debts are not ours, and they are not the Iraqis'.  They are Saddam's.

France, Germany, Russia and China should want us to forget the fact that they supplied Saddam with weapons, munitions, and equipment right up to and even (in some cases) during the war, and lent him money which he used to build arsenals and palaces while his people starved. They should be asking the world to forgive them, and the sooner the better.

By making sure that American money only goes to countries that stood by us, openly supporting us even if only in word, President Bush is sending the clear message that America rewards its allies.  Those countries who worked to keep a brutal dictator in power should get nothing.

Frankly, I don't see that the appeasers have a leg to stand on here.  Do they really think that the timing of these two announcements was some sort of accident?  While critics bemoan the timing, calling it a mistake, I think it was very precisely calculated to deliver a message. The countries that we're asking to forgive Saddam's debts still have a chance to make their money back from the reconstruction... if they play ball. They can bid on the contracts if they stop publicly slamming us at every opportunity and join the Coalition. There's still room for them to do so, if they can put their puerile America-bashing aside, and grow up.