Josh Marshall has this example of the Bush Administration’s latest screwup in Iraq :

As we noted yesterday, Bush family fixer James A. Baker has been given the task of cajoling states that are owed money by Iraq into either forgiving or generously restructuring Iraq’s debts.

Near the top of that list of state creditors are France, Germany and Russia.

Now we hear that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has just signed a directive barring French, German and Russian companies from competing for the $18.6 billion of Iraqi reconstruction contracts for “the protection of the essential security interests of the United States.”

D’oh!

Y’know, Bush and his allies rightly get a lot of credit for being deft politicians. For all their successes on the domestic front, you’d think they’d apply some of those lessons internationally. For example, if you want somebody to do you a favor (like, say, forgiving billions of dollars in debt), wouldn’t it be a good idea to not piss them off by doing something petty (like not allowing them to compete for reconstruction contracts)?