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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (4457)	11/12/2003 6:16:09 AM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 20773

Shame on you, letting facts get in the way of a perfectly good doctrinaire position from our friend. Moderates are such a pain in the ass.... LOL.

To: zonder who wrote (4457)	11/12/2003 9:10:59 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

Hint: Look up France's financial gains from Iraq and the trade it was to lose from the US. You will see right away that if money was all France cared for, they would be a devoted second poodle for Bush, alongside Blair. I think Tarik Aziz had pretty much confirmed the rumours that France and Russia were attempting to play a delaying action in the US. foxnews.com But let's have a look at the economics.. Two billion a year in exports to Iraq under the oil for food agreements, with potential for TotalFina-Elf to win exploration contracts worth in the hundreds of billions? arabicnews.com Compared to a $9 Billion trade surplus with the US and at most, the possibility of a temporary trade spat? census.gov As you can see from the August data, trade is pretty much the same as it was last year between France and the US. So yes.. technically France had more to lose by continuing to obfuscate and run interference for Saddam's regime , but far more to gain if they could preserve Saddam's regime and rake in those lucrative contracts. There's something to be said for France transitioning into one of the primary EU energy providers.. Gives them substantial influence on the continent. And Iraq's exploited oil resources would provide just such an opportunity, now wouldn't it? Hawk