So why are we asked to pay up? We don't even like the tune.

I know this isn't what you meant, Emmanual, but it is of course truer
than you intended. The goal in Iraq is a free and democratic nation
that does not attack its neighbors. That seems to frighten France and
much of the United Nations a lot more than Saddam Hussein ever did.

That is what the world is being asked to contribute toward, not the
cost of war or occupation, which are borne almost entirely by the U.S.

The $33 billion contributed or promised by the *whole world* includes
$20 million from the U.S., appropriated in a bill that totaled $87
billion, with the difference of $67 billion being for occupation
costs, almost entirely in Iraq.

There are two tunes being played he a military occupation and the
construction of a free society. It was only the latter that we asked
you to hum along with. Even Sri Lanka found it possible to contribute
some tea. But Europe! Pardon me while I retch.

(Always emphasizing that "Europe" means the sclerotic powers in the
center, with their auxiliaries.)


all the best -- Dan Ford
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