(2003-09-08) -- France and Germany announced today that they would pay the estimated $87 billion that U.S. President George Bush plans to spend to rebuild Iraq.

In a joint statement, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac said, "We can never pay back the United States and her allies for saving our nations from the clutches of a brutal dictator in World War II. However, we can pay it forward by funding the renovation of Iraq, which has been freed from another evil despot."

The European leaders say their people are eager to set an example of gratitude for the world.