Quote:
Originally posted by rogue49
Now, while I can understand why we don't some countries that didn't participate from profiteering,
this does not bode well for the US on the international scene.
We are stuck in the middle of this, overreaching our resources at the moment.
To not have EVERYONE's help rebuilding this area will mean we will be bogged down even further,
and the rest of the world won't have another chance to invest in stabilizing the region.
At this moment in time, there needs to be an inclusive commitment.
On top of that, this will FURTHER isolate the US from the international scene,
and anger countries that we've had significant connections with currently & in the past.
I can understand our will to go at war alone or with fewer allies,
it had to be done...so be it,
but now, that we are trying to rebuild, we need to include everyone.
We cannot afford to waste time, money, efforts, resources or political good-will.
This needs to be done quickly and with everyone's help.
Even at the cost of some profit-taking.
(This is insigificant in comparison to the costs of isolating ourselves & the region)
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While I agree to some extent I think there are other things going on here. The first is that the international community is not and likely will not help us in Iraq in the near future. You can argue that it was Bush's inadequacy at foreign relations, you can argue that it was a failure of our "allies" to overcome the financial motivations they had to keep Saddam in power, that they don't want to expose their troops to the tactics of the "insurgents" in Iraq, or even that they don't want to become bigger targets to international terrorism, whatever. But the current reality is that we will not see any help from them on the troop/security side of things.
I'm not making a judgement whether this move is right or wrong since I (and no one else here) really know what's going on behind the scenes between all the countries involved, but here are some reasons why this might be justified:
It may allow us to get more commitments from those who are helping us in Iraq. Whether that means more troops, more money, more police or whatever.
It may help to increase pressure on those governments who refuse to join us in Iraq from corporations within their borders who would like to participate but are barred from it.