Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=12/11/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= IRAQ CONTRACTS WRAP (L)

NUMBER=2-310761

BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

INTRO: President Bush is defending his decision to exclude some countries from lucrative U-S financed reconstruction projects in Iraq, saying only nations that contributed troops to the war that toppled Saddam Hussein are entitled to bid on such work. Correspondent Nick Simeone reports the European Union is denouncing the move as unjustified and warning the White House stance threatens to re-open the trans-Atlantic rift over Iraq that surfaced prior to the war.

TEXT: Anger in Europe over the U-S decision to exclude countries -- including France, Germany and Russia -- from billions of dollars worth of Iraqi reconstruction contracts is not going away. Thursday, the European Union called the move unjustified and difficult to accept.

/// GOOCH ACT ///

It does seem gratuitous and unnecessary.

/// END ACT ///

Anthony Gooch, a spokesman for the E-U's delegation in Washington, denounced the move as puzzling, especially since it comes at a time when President Bush has been telephoning the leaders of European nations asking for their help in forgiving Iraqi debt.

/// SECOND GOOCH ACT ///

On a day when you see President Bush seeking the active support of three heads of government from Russia, Germany and France to help restructure Iraq's debt, that while the left hand is doing one thing while the right hand is doing something else, it does suggest a certain incoherence.

/// END ACT ///

But the president, in his first public comments about the dispute, defended the decision in an exchange with reporters.

/// BUSH ACT ///

Our people risked their lives. Friendly coalition folks risked their lives and therefore the contracting is going to reflect that and that's what the U-S taxpayers expect.

/// END ACT ///

But critics including Rania Masri of the anti-war group called the "Campaign to Stop War Profiteers" question whether this is really the best way to use American taxpayer money.

/// MASRI ACT ///

If the objective of spending this money is to make sure Iraq is rebuilt in the best way possible, then the contracts should be given to the companies that are most effective and efficient in doing that and I think that would be the greatest award for taxpayer money.

/// END ACT ///

European anger over the U-S decision to shut some U-S allies out of lucrative Iraqi reconstruction contracts comes at a sensitive time for the Bush administration. At the request of the president, former U-S Secretary of State James Baker will travel next week to some of the European capitals that opposed the Iraq war to ask them to forgive billions of dollars in Iraqi debt.

But a White House spokesman says the administration has no intention of changing its policy, which is rooted in the trans-Atlantic rift that surfaced when some European nations blocked United Nations approval of the war. Still, the European Union is looking into whether this U-S decision -- which it says threatens to re-open trans-Atlantic wounds -- violates rules governing world trade. (SIGNED)

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