We may not be as good as Daimler at getting the jobs but we can sue for our cut.

Like the pot calling the kettle black, the U.S is suing Daimler for following the culture in other lands and landing jobs. many cultures follow the rule of baksheesh. This in German is called "Nützliche Aufwendungen" or necessary payments. Since U.S. companies were not as good as Daimler.

www.spiegel.de...
"The affair has proved to be extremely expensive for automaker Daimler, which is set to pay $185 million to settle a lawsuit in the United States."
"The so-called "useful payments" known as "N.A." are payments to people who are expected to be of use to the company in the contract-awarding process, including government officials, cabinet ministers and heads of state, as well as their wives and children. Such payments were legal in Germany until 1998 and were even tax deductible.

But then Germany was forced to bow to US pressure. In 1977, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act made it illegal for American companies to bribe foreign business contacts. Washington complained that US companies stood to lose billions in contracts because they, unlike companies in Germany and other countries, were barred from paying bribes. Germany, at the time the world's second-largest exporter after the US, responded by imposing its own ban on the bribing of foreign decision-makers."

www.forbes.com...
The UK defence company BAE Systems Plc. (other-otc: BAESF.PK - news - people ), which is being investigated by the US over alleged bribes to Saudi Arabia in the previous Al-Yamamah arms deal, is the main contractor on the Al-Salam deal.
(Did the U.S. not get their cut?)

1. Make the bad guys less bad,
www.washingtonpost.com...
UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. Security Council committee announced Tuesday that it has lifted sanctions against five former Taliban officials, bolstering Afghan and U.N. efforts to pursue peace talks with the group, Security Council diplomats said. The decision came after Russia agreed to stop blocking a U.S.-backed proposal to delist the men.

2. Pull out the check book
www.foxnews.com...
In London this week, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, will launch a British and American-backed plan for "reintegration" of the Taliban and call for international funding to offer jobs and bribes to bring insurgents in from the cold.

3. Write some BIG checks & hope they don't bounce
(Let's rebuild their country & pay them big bucks!! WTF, where is my money?
Oh! That is my money.)
news.bbc.co.uk...
US Gen Stanley McChrystal told the UK's Financial Times newspaper that there had been "enough fighting".

President Karzai recently told the BBC that he planned to introduce a scheme to attract Taliban fighters back to normal life by offering money and jobs.

He said he would offer to pay and resettle Taliban fighters to come over to his side.
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When we do it and it is illegal it is all right because we can justify it? When someone does it better (still illegal) & we don't get our cut , it must be wrong?

If the Court says it is illegal & the Government you are doing business still holds out their hand, do you want the business or not? It goes on & on & on.
China bribes the U.S.
Saudi Arabia bribes Britain

US Gen Stanley McChrystal aka US General Westmoreland sound like they are doing the same things they tried in vietnam. When you can't beat the enemy, bribe him or buy him off. The problem with this plan is that the Taliban and the tribe leaders are very acceptable to bribes, but like any trader they want things to work THEIR way not our way. Thats why they call Karzai the President/mayor of Kabul, he doesn't have control in the rest of the country because areas are ruled by tribal leaders and factions. And if he even tried to break this up the country would go against him and the US wholesale.

Just declare victory and get out.

Also the bribery thing still happens and will continue to happen, thats the nature of doing business. The US companies can't get away with it as blatantly or as much as foreign companies and thats why the laws are pushed onto the rest of the world. If I was Germany or Daimlyer I would pull my plants from the US and put them somewhere else, like Canada.