Germany denounces US restriction on Iraqi reconstruction

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 11, 2003

Germany denounces US restriction on Iraqi reconstruction

German officials sharply criticized the US government on Wednesday for its decision to exclude war opponents such Germany from bidding contracts on Iraq's reconstruction.

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German officials sharply criticized the US government on Wednesday for its decision to exclude war opponents such Germany from bidding contracts on Iraq's reconstruction.

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said that he was astonished tolearn such news and would raise the issue in talks with the American side.

The Minister for Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, calledthe US intention "most selfish," while government spokesman Bela Anda regarded it as "unacceptable."

According to reports reaching here, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has issued a guideline, in which firms fromGermany, France and Russia will be banned from bidding a share of 18.5 billion US dollars that the US Congress approved last month for Iraq's reconstruction.

The guideline said that the decision against Germany, France and Russia, which opposed the US-led war against Iraq in March, was based on "security interests."

Anda said that the decision by Pentagon did not agree with the recent agreements between Berlin and Washington that the two countries should "look forward and not backward."

Wieczorek-Zeul said that the Pentagon decision was hypocriticalas it would monopolize contract distribution while calling for more international support for Iraq's reconstruction.

Due to Pentagon's restrictions, it is a "unreasonable demand" for Washington to urge NATO countries to send troops to Iraq, she said.

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