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Kinda glad I didn't post my initial thoughts on this, or I would get to eat a nice, tasty crow on this. (Fortunately, there's a good recipe in Dumas, but I digress).
This looked really puzzling at the outset. Sure, to those who see the world in black and white, it's a no brainer: If you didn't help to make the opportunity, why should you be able to take advange of it. On the other hand, with a more nuanced worldview, it's still a no brainer: Now that we have everyone pissed off, we could use these contracts to buy back some good will (doesn't necessarily work on people, but politicians love it).
However, Jim Baker's success in France on the debt relief junket makes one wonder: is it possible that the whole contract restriction thing was there just to set up the conditions to make debt relief palatable? If we were to accept debt relief as a significant contribution to our efforts in Iraq, then countries who significantly remit or reschedule their Iraqi debt would be eligable to bid on the contracts.
You know, I have always thought Carl Rove was an evil genius, and this clinches it. I have got to admire the subtlety of this. A totally inflammatory action completely in character and moronic on the surface turns out to be the exact thing to turn petulant refusal to giddy compliance. Genius! (Still evil, though.)
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Light a man a fire, and he will be warm while it burns.
Set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.
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