From yesterday’s AP wire, via the Boston Globe, " Lawmakers call for more Iraqi involvement in their nation's rebuilding":
Two U.S. House members who spent three days and two nights last week in Iraq without the usual military escort said the United States must give Iraqis a greater role in the rebuilding of their nation.Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who traveled through the country mingling with citizens and even attending a local wedding, said Tuesday that Iraqis are a proud people and they need a bigger say in their future.
''If this is their revolution, they have to have a greater part in it,'' said Shays. ''They need to be listened to and no one is listening to them.''
The two lawmakers outlined a series of recommendations Tuesday. They called on the Bush administration to work harder to involve more countries in the rebuilding Iraq, send independent teams of auditors to evaluate the security situation there, increase efforts to buy back weapons hidden throughout the country, and bring in the International Atomic Energy Agency to help search for evidence of nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, back at the White House, via the Washington Post, " U.S. Bars Certain Countries From Iraq Contracts":
The United States will not allow companies from countries that did not support the war in Iraq to bid on $18.6 billion in prime reconstruction contracts funded by U.S. taxpayers, effectively excluding firms from Russia, Germany, France and Canada from a large portion of the biggest nation rebuilding effort since World War II.Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said it was necessary "for the protection of the essential security interests of the United States" to limit the competition. His Dec. 5 policy memo was posted today on the Web site of the Project Management Office, a new Pentagon-run group overseeing the award of U.S.-funded reconstruction contracts.
[. . .]
The memo lists 63 countries whose companies are eligible to compete for 26 prime reconstruction contracts that the Defense Department and other U.S. agencies plan to award by Feb. 3. The list of eligible countries includes Australia and the United Kingdom, large members of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, as well others such as Azerbaijan, Palau, Rwanda and Colombia.
Wolfowitz said in his memo that coalition partners "share in the U.S. vision of a free and stable Iraq. The limitation of sources to prime contractors from these countries should encourage the continued cooperation of coalition members."
