The snubbing of Canada
Okay, so far I have kept the rants totally focused on hair loss. Today I break with this pattern because I am pissed off at the latest announcement from Paul Wolfowitz, indicating that countries that were not part of the so called 'coalition of the willing' will not be allowed to bid on contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq.
Canada is one of the countries specifically targeted. This pisses me off and I'm sure it also pisses most Canadians off not because we give a crap about making money from the rebuilding of Iraq, but because we have (a) fought side-by-side with American's in Afghanistan and lost Canadians in that war and (b) we have pledged 300 million dollars for the rebuilding of Iraq. We did not send troops to Iraq, but neither did about 90% of the members of the so called 'coalition of the willing' some of which couldn't send a donkey, let alone troops.
Canada has a LOT of expertise that would come in handy to Americans, but more importantly to the Iraqis that are currently suffering from lack of adequate infrastructure and services. It seems to me that the most economically and militarily powerful nation on earth should be more concerned with the humanitarian situation than it is with petty revenge. The only reason Canada could possibly be singled out the way it has been by the US, is that we disagreed with the unilateral invasion of Iraq without the blessing of the UN. It seems to me that since the only weapons of mass destruction that have been found in Iraq to date have been a few canisters of bug spray, we were in the right.
I have a lot of friends and family in the US, and most of them disagree with much of what is going on politically in that country at the moment.
So Bush and Wolfowitz, keep providing bidless contracts to Halliburton, so that Halliburton can charge excorbitant fees for its efforts, draining your own tax coffers, and taking more money out of the pockets of ordinary Americans.
There goes your monthly hair loss regimen cash.
Addendum to this rant (added 2003-12-11). Here is a link to an article that quotes Jean Chretien, the just-retired former Prime Minister of Canada, saying that George Bush told him in a telephone conversation that Canada would NOT be excluded from bidding on reconstruction contracts in Iraq... It remains to be seen what actually happens:
George Bush and Jean Chretien talk.
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