They're Making My Brain Hurt

This is getting tough to comprehend. Maybe I'm a little too simplisme to understand the nuances here, but the French seem to be acting even more irrational as time goes on. They demand we hand Iraq over to them, but that we pay for the rebuilding. Now they worry that there might be repercussions for their insolence. And they whine about consequences of their disrespect. They want all the benefits of a successful prosecution of war, but absolutely none of the responsibility.

The French want a big role in the reconstruction of Iraq. Since we won't be plundering the nation after we defeat Saddam, the commercial contracts will be the most valuable immediate economic gain from the liberation of Iraq. We, meaning the coalition of the willing, have taken on the responsibility of removing Saddam Hussein from power. We will have paid the price of progress with the blood of our men and women.

What makes the French think that their "experience" in dealing with a now defunct regime is so important? We will be changing the regime. We will be providing the humanitarian aid that the UN (selfishly manipulated by the French, Germans and Russians) will not; they can provide it - and we've asked them to- but they refuse to help the people in need of aid. We will be rebuilding the basic infrastructure that Saddam is destroying. We will pay in blood to set up the foundation of the new Iraq that the French wish to exploit for commercial gain.

The coalition must discriminate against companies from nations that opposed us. It must be perfectly clear that if you oppose us you cannot expect to ride our coattails to profit. When we declare our intention to solve a problem, each nation has a choice to make. They can either join us in solving the problem, they can remain neutral and quiet, or they can oppose us. Those, to one degree or another, are the only three choices. If you loudly and proudly and vehemently oppose us no matter what, you cannot expect us to just roll over and give you what you want when we're done. We are one of the most benevolent conquerors in history, but our benevolence should only extend to those that we actually defeat in battle and to the people we liberate.

The French do not deserve our benevolence. They have only earned our contempt.