[ OUR OPINION ]

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Spite widens gulf
between U.S., allies

THE ISSUE The Bush administration has announced that it will not allow some of its allies to compete for contracts to rebuild Iraq.

AT A TIME when the United States is trying to mend broken fences with important allies, the decision to bar them from $18.6 billion in reconstruction contracts in Iraq creates further obstacles. It is a self-defeating step that reflects a lingering bitterness against those who led international opposition to the war.

The puzzling move threatens the mission of President Bush's personal envoy, James Baker, who begins a five-nation trip next week to persuade some of the same countries -- who were infuriated by their exclusion --to forgive the more than $100 billion in debts owed them by Iraq.

However, the former secretary of state has a reputation as a formidable diplomatic fixer. He may be able to use the carrot of future construction contracts to soften the big-stick blow the United States has wielded over Iraq creditors Germany, France and Russia. That possible tactic could explain the administration's seemingly counterproductive courses. The alternative is disturbing -- that without coherent leadership from a stifled State Department and Secretary Colin Powell, the Pentagon has taken charge of foreign policy.

The president, who was well aware of the Pentagon's decision on the contracts, defended the action, saying that "coalition folks" who helped the United States rightfully expect to reap the rewards. Bush may feel he had given ample warning when earlier this year he cautioned allies that they would face unspecified consequences for their opposition to the invasion.

Nonetheless, the retaliation unnecessarily opens another front in Bush's battles. At home, the public's weariness with the war weighs on his bid for re-election. Stretched-thin troops curtail his ability to deal firmly with China and North Korea. In addition, the latest initiative may spark another round with the World Trade Organization, which slapped down the administration's steel tariffs, forcing Bush to retreat from the plan he hoped would win him industry and voter support.

When told that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder questioned whether the exclusion would stand up to international law, Bush caustically replied, "International law? I better call my lawyer." But derision does not dull the sharp weapons of international trade law that European nations had effectively used against the tariff.

Although the administration contends that the coalition it leads and finances is not bound by free trade agreements, the president's remark has challenged the European Commission to pore over the contracts, looking for violations. The United States does not need further diversion of its attention and efforts.

The exclusion also makes it increasingly unlikely that the United States will gain meaningful help on the ground in Iraq and has pushed deeper the wedge between America and several nations it once held as strong confederates. It obligates the United States to keep going it alone.

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Army wise to avoid
courtroom conflict

THE ISSUE The city prosecutor has dropped trespass charges against seven people who protested the Army's Stryker brigade plans.

The Army exercised good strategy when it beat retreat from a courtroom battle that probably would have resulted in an embarrassing defeat. Criminal trespass charges against people who came to public hearings bearing signs in opposition of the Army's proposed Stryker combat brigade should never have been brought in the first place.

Sign-bearing protesters were simply exercising their First Amendment rights and the Army's attempts to bar them from the hearings were inexcusable.

In all, seven individuals had been arraigned on the charges and were to face trial before military authorities requested that the city prosecutor back off. The Army's claims that the signs leveled clear and present dangers to others and to the private venues it chose for the hearings were ludicrous. The only disturbances were the result of security guards and Army officials attempting to prevent Stryker opponents from entering the meeting places. Further, stated concerns about signs on sticks being wielded as weapons should have been of no concern since none of the signs were on sticks.

According to prosecutor Peter Carlisle, the Army decided to drop charges because "lingering concerns may focus comments away from substantive issues" about the brigade that will require acquisition of 23,000 acres on the Big Island and 1,400 on Oahu to accommodate 310 of the 19-ton, eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles.

Indeed, trials would have given defendants a bully pulpit from which to express their views against locating the brigade in Hawaii -- not a desirable situation for the Army.