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CounterPunch
March 22,
2003
From
Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan
Now That's a
Coalition!
By TOM GORMAN
US Secretary of State (not to mention once and
future war criminal) Colin Powell has released his list of the
"Coalition of the Willing," the nations who have pledged
to stand by the US in its "struggle against Saddam."
The "Coalition of the Willing"--or bullied and bought
as many now like to say--is impressive. Hope you're sitting down,
because here it comes:
Afghanistan
Albania
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Georgia
Hungary
Italy
Japan
South Korea
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
The Philippines
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
Uzbekistan
Come on, now, catch your breath.
Who needs a UN when you have Azerbaijan
and Macedonia in your corner? With Poland and Eritrea for us,
who can stand against us?
And the list doesn't end there. Powell
claims that an additional fifteen nations have tacitly given
their support to the US attack on Iraq. Why are they not publicly
supporting the Bush administration? A fair guess would be that
they are concerned that the already volatile populations in their
countries might, you know, kill them for going along with this
idiotic plan. There's an old Texas saying (all old sayings seem
to be Texan these days): "Don't publicly ally yourself with
the guys who are being burned in effigy by the local mob."
Bush claims to be protecting the "international
community." Let's see how much of the world this Coalition
actually represents. The total population of all the countries
in the Coalition is 1,100,083,030. (Note: I'm using figures from
July 2000 estimates. While the populations of these countries
certainly have increased since then, it is doubtful that they
increased as fast as the world population, given that some countries,
like Afghanistan, have suffered increased mortality due to American
bombing and suspension of humanitarian aid. In short, this percentage
is most likely high.) With a world population of 6,080,671,215,
that makes the Coalition (including the United States) representative
of a staggering 18.1 percent of the people of this planet. China
alone represents a greater chunk of humanity than this coalition.
Of course, not winning the popular vote
hasn't stopped Bush yet.
Tom Gorman
is the president of The Antiwar Coalition at California State
University, Los Angeles. He welcomes comments at tgorman222@hotmail.com.
Yesterday's
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Ben Tripp
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Cathy Breens
Report from Baghdad: Mothers, Kids and Crash Kits
Scott Handleman
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Brian J. Foley
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After Saddam, a War on Iraqi Rebels?
Philip S. Golub
Inventing Demons
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