A day after the Pentagon announced that companies from France, Germany and Russia would be barred from winning contracts to help rebuild Iraq, President Bush called the leaders of each country to ask them to forgive billions in debt owed by Iraq. A memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, appeared on the Pentagon’s website just hours before Bush was scheduled to call the leaders of France, Germany and Russia and ask them to receive presidential envoy James Baker. Baker is traveling to Europe this weekend to ask countries to wipe out Iraq’s debt. The White House said President Bush was surprised about the timing and tone of Wolfowitz’s directive which claimed the ban on countries that opposed the invasion was needed in part for security reasons.