COALITION OF THE WILLING
The Bush administration has often threatened to invade Iraq without coalition partners, but the U.S. is applying great pressure to convince conservative governments and countries over which it maintains hegemony to join as collaborators in a new war. Some 60 countries have been urged to support the White House's Iraqi ambitions, according to press reports.
So many of Washington's allies and subject nations oppose President Bush's rush to war with Iraq, however, that the "Partnership of Nations" -- the entity composed of scores of countries that joined with the U.S. in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks -- is devolving to a new, much smaller "Coalition of the Willing."
The White House seems to have discontinued referring to the "Partnership" last October. President Bush evidently launched what was to become the Coalition of the Willing at the Prague NATO meeting Nov. 20 when he announced that if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not disarm to the Bush administration's satisfaction, the U.S. "will lead a coalition of the willing to disarm him and at that point in time, all our nations will be able to choose whether or not they want to participate."
Secretary of State Colin Powell, who effortlessly metamorphosed from the administration's caged "dove" into a bird of opposite feather in recent weeks, declared Jan. 23 that "Many nations have already expressed a willingness to serve in a coalition of the willing." If there are "many," it's a good bet that a number of them are indebted to, or fearful of offending, the United States. "Coalition of the Conservatives and the Coerced" is more like it.
So far, only Great Britain is sending a significant military detachment to join the 150,000 U.S. troops already stationed in the Middle East awaiting the call to war. But according to administration spokespeople, up to 20 other countries are said to support the war effort in one way or another -- from publicly extending political agreement to providing token material support or allowing the use of air space or bases. At least eight of the "Willing" are U.S. clients regimes in the Middle East -- Turkey, Oman and six oil-rich principalities which are providing bases despite opposition to a war among their populations.
Neither the final composition of the "Willing," nor the price Washington is paying to procreate this rump caucus, can be ascertained at this stage.
Some 10 members of the European Union (EU), led by France and Germany, have not joined the new coalition. France ("We believe that nothing today justifies envisaging military action") and Germany ("Iraq has complied fully with all relevant resolutions") have mounted the strongest opposition.
Five EU countries -- Britain, along with conservative governments in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Denmark -- support Bush. East European non-EU rightist governments in support of the U.S. include Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
According to Greece (the EU chair last month), even these five pro-U.S. European Union governments want to give the UN arms inspectors a few more weeks to finish their work Bush wants to attack immediately, but has agreed to delay for a few weeks, partially to ease some of the popular pressure on his few European backers, including Britain's Tony Blair.
Majorities of the people in all European countries oppose the war, including in the five members of the Willing. In Britain, 84% of the population opposes a war without a new mandate for the invasion from the UN (43% oppose a new war under any circumstances). In Italy, 72.7% are against a war. In Spain, it's 80%. In Denmark, 79% are against a war without UN backing (57% oppose the war even with the UN behind it). Among the East European Bush supporters, 82% of the Hungarian people oppose a war, as do 67% in the Czech Republic (going up to 76% without a second UN vote for hostilities).
In France, which not only is playing a leading role in contradicting U.S. ambitions but which also is a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto powers, 73% oppose a U.S.-led war. In Germany, perhaps the most outspoken opponent of an attack on Iraq, popular opposition is 69%.
At this stage, the two other permanent members of the Security Council, Russia and China, have expressed opposition to a U.S. attack but have not indicated whether they would use their veto power.
Among the remaining industrialized countries, including the rest of Europe, several nations in the Western Hemisphere, Japan and South Korea, only Australia, so far, has agreed to send a military unit -- a 14-aircraft task force. Israel is a major backer of an assault upon Baghdad, but remains silent for obvious reasons. At most, only a few non-industrialized nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America even vaguely support Bush's plans for an unprovoked war of aggression against Iraq.
The Coalition of the Willing is a fraud. Washington calls all the shots, with input from its junior partner, the former colonial overlord turned vassal. The rest of the coalition simply serves to diffuse the blame for what all the world must realize is an unjust and immoral enterprise that evidently pays well. The real crunch will come if the UN considers a second resolution but does not extend explicit permission to the martinet in the White House to ravage Iraq at will. At that point it appears the U.S. will assign its minions to the imperial baggage wagons for the Modern Crusade to Baghdad for oil, empire, and the eternal glory of Christendom and its King of Kings, George W. Bush.