Beggars at the feast
America has been passing the begging bowl around Europe, looking for contributions to the war effort. The outstretched arm is reaching across the current 15 countries, but any loose change from the pre-accession states will also be gratefully received.
Why should anyone apart from the war-mongering Americans and British finance reconstruction? Because the issue is not the physical damage wreaked by a relatively short bombardment of Baghdad and elsewhere, but because the Europeans should all share the cost of restoring order after the chaos endured by Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
That was the message from Alan Larson, senior economic adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell, during a brief trip to Brussels last week.
Just as the European Parliament embarrassingly abandoned efforts to vote on a new resolution on the Iraqi crisis, Larson was addressing a press conference nearby and rejecting French President Jacques Chirac's "you-broke-it-you-pay-for-it" attitude to post-war rebuilding. The money was needed not to repair the results of a few days of war, but "20 years of misrule" by Saddam Hussein.
Twenty years ago Iraq boasted the same per capita income as Portugal, he said - $10,000 a year at today's rates. But now per capita wealth is put at less than $2,000 - not something that can be blamed on a few incoming missiles lobbed by the Yanks and the Brits.
Is it an argument that will wash, either within the 15 or the 25? Not at the moment, with feelings still running high and MEPs unable to agree on a form of words on the issue.
Nothing reflected the disarray better than the failure of the European Parliament to agree on a new declaration. British MEPs vehemently opposed a form of words including more condemnation of the rush to war by the UK and the US, and the French and German MEPs in particular were against ignoring what they believe was a breach of international law.
Applying the old rule of "least said, soonest mended," the parliament decided to say nothing. So there is now no official view on the biggest issue in the world from the EU's only democratically elected body.
Where that leaves Larson's plea for cash is unclear, especially as, far from contributing money, countries such as Poland are actually seeking payments of sums owed by Iraq.
In Poland's case, about €654 million ($700 million) of debt is outstanding, and, given a lack of enthusiasm for the war, Larson is unlikely to be asking Leszek Miller to dip into the piggy bank.
What are the chances of the bill being paid? Zero, said Larson.
"Look, if anyone should pay the bill for rebuilding Iraq, it should be Saddam Hussein, but that isn't going to happen," he said.
But the hot tip for governments is to prepare major contractors to tender for the lucrative reconstruction work which will have to start soon. Washington has already handed out initial contracts, but that is not favouritism, Larson said, just expediency.
When asked what European companies have got to do to be in line for some of the work, Larson said: "When a war is being fought, I cannot think about who will get the commercial benefits of reconstruction. That is not our interest. This is a military operation all about ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. It is very important to support the Iraqi people."
Meanwhile, there is another work of reconstruction underway - the rebuilding of relations between the EU and the US. And that could take longer than restoring stable government and the rule of law in Iraq.
Geoff Meade is the European Union editor of the Press Association.
