Those French & Germans
It's getting a liitle old to constantly hear about people bashing the French and Germans over their decisions to oppose the war in Iraq. Just because someone is your ally doesn't mean they have to agree with you on every single thing. Both countries had lots of money invested in Iraq (so did Russia for that matter) - mainly civil contracts to build roads, railroads, telecomm, sewage systems, pipelines, etc, etc.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure not ALL of it was purely "for the good of the people" but let's leave out the conspiracy theories.
So why were they helping a dictator? Why did the US supply him with money, aide, and chemical and biological weapons in the 80s? Who's the worse offender here? By the way the French and Germans were within UN guidelines.
So then along comes the US and they want to go to war in Iraq. The French, Germans, and Russians want assurances of their investments (we're talking billions of dollars) but the US says "NO, we can't do that. You'll have to go through a bidding process to regain those contracts" Gee what would you do?
These nations were protecting their own investments - self serving? Of course, wouldn't you expect the US to do the same? Hasn't the US done so countless times before and no one complained?
And lets not forget that without the French there would most likely not be a United States of America - it would still be a British colony. Unlike the US however they don't feel the need to rub our faces in it every time they want us to do them a favor.
We in the general public are not privy to the inner dealings and negotiations that went on during that time. Who knows maybe the German negotiator was being an ass and demanding way too much compensation for the lost contracts and refusing concessions. Maybe the US representative was being an arrogant prick and trying bully tactics. Who knows?
They didn't want to help us clean up a huge mess we created at their expense.
Do a web search on Iraqgate and read. Who were the key players? US, Britain, and Italy - George Bush Sr (as VP under Reagan & as President later), Rumsfeld
The US spent a reported $1.5 Billion to export biological agents and high tech equipment between 1985 and 1990
Its absolutely attrocious what these guys did. The US has no go basis what so ever to go around criticizing other nations dealings with the old Iraq regime.
Just to add some perspective. I'll stop now or this will end up being twenty pages long. Know your history - it sheds a completely different light on currrent events.
How dare you tell us the truth we don't want to hear!
Of course you're absolutely right. No nation state has ever done anything just because it's the right thing to do. Countries act or don't act based on their own national interests. And anyone that thinks the US went into Iraq to save the poor Iraqis, is either in denial or is just a fool. Saving Iraq from the will of a dictator sure sounds nice, but if that were the real reason, then why are we not sending troops to Sudan, Turkemnistan, Myanmar, Ivory Coast, and at least a dozen other places where helpless people are facing hardships at least as bad as they were in Iraq. All that said, I'm not trying to imply that acting in our own national interest is bad, it's not bad at all. But let's not kid ourselves about why we do anything. It's not because we're these"good guys" on a mission to save the world from tyranny.