Word: iraqis
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...first plane ride into Baghdad International Airport. The descent, once famous for its harrowing, evasive corkscrew maneuver, was peaceful. We looped around the airport, above long rows of tan army tents at camps Liberty and Victory, delayed only by a small dust storm. In the row behind me, Iraqi gentlemen in blazers laughed the whole way. A few aisles up, a mountainous, tattooed contractor dozed in headphones...
...woulds, shoulds or oughts, but rather who gets the signature on the contract first," says Philippe Moreau Defarges, a senior fellow on international relations at the French Institute on Foreign Relations in Paris. "Tragically for America, meanwhile, now that stability and order is starting to be imposed, the Iraqi leadership is increasingly defining and evolving itself in opposition to what the U.S. wants or demands. That's unfair, given the military sacrifice America has made, but it will be a boon to European diplomats and businesspeople over time...
...German Foreign Minister's trip to Iraq came just a week after French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Baghdad. "My coming here is to tell French companies: the time has come. Come and invest!" Sarkozy declared, explaining to his host, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, how French investment would be mutually beneficial. "We seek cooperation in the economic field, energy, rebuilding, and to help the police, security and Iraqi military forces, as well as restoring the international position of Iraq," Sarkozy promised. "We want to encourage all European countries to come. It is in Europe's interest to extend...
...European firms don't exactly need Sarkozy's invitation to get to know Iraqi officials. Earlier this year, France's Total and the Anglo-Dutch firm Royal Dutch Shell began talks with Iraqi authorities about developing five new oil fields in the north and south of the country. (U.S. rivals Chevron and ExxonMobil are also after that business.) European chemical, engineering and construction companies and arms producers would also like to re-establish ties that were severed by the international embargo of Iraq before the war. British and Italian firms, meanwhile, long to kick-start contracts they had from...
...Iraq visit. Maliki used Sarkozy's presence and words of support to respond to comments by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that Washington would be "more aggressive" in demanding political reform from Baghdad. Delivered as Biden left for an international security summit in Munich, the sentiment apparently annoyed the Iraqi Prime Minister. "The time for putting pressure on Iraq is over," Maliki said during a Baghdad press conference with Sarkozy. That must be music to Old Europe's ears...