http://www.boston.com/dailyne....:.shtml Some in U.S. war coalition may seem like unlikely partners in fighting Saddam By Associated Press, 3/21/2003 18:59 WASHINGTON (AP) Of the 45 countries on the Bush administration's list of partners in the war to depose Iraq's Saddam Hussein, some may come as a surprise. Rwanda, for example. Or Eritrea. Or the Marshall Islands. Or Mongolia, whose annual defense budget of $24 million is less than what the U.S. Navy spent for the Tomahawk missiles it launched at one of Saddam's residences on the opening night of the war. The Pentagon published its membership list Friday for the ''Coalition for the Immediate Disarmament of Iraq.'' It said all 45 are ''publicly committed'' to it a description which explains why some countries in the Middle East which are directly supporting the war but won't say so publicly are not on the list. They include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman, all of which are allowing U.S. forces to operate from their soil. So what are Micronesia and Nicaragua two other partners listed by the Pentagon doing for the cause? The Pentagon isn't saying. Col. Catherine Abbott, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the policy is to ''let each country talk about its support to the coalition.'' She said the types of support range from direct military participation as in the case of Britain, the United States, Australia and Poland to logistical support (Romania), overflight rights (Turkey), humanitarian aid (Japan) and political support. The other countries on the list are Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kuwait, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Netherlands, Palau, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Uganda and Uzbekistan. Among countries not on the list is traditional U.S. ally Germany, which strongly opposes the war but nonetheless has allowed use of its airspace for Germany-based U.S. forces involved in the war. ------- America is going it alone they say(unilateral war), They have said the WORLD is against the war, they said the iraqis are against the war, 500,000 innocents will die they said, Its about the oil they say, well in the cases of russia, france and chinas opposition they were right, they also said saddam has no weapons of mass destruction and wouldnt use them against us. If you anti-war people have been so wrong so many times already, what makes you think your right about the WMD's?
Most of the world is against the war. Like China and Russia for example. And in some countries that support war, the majority of public opinion is anti-war, like in England for example.
I hardly would consider Countries that have U.S military bases in them "participants" or "willing". I mean what would you expect them to do, tell the U.S that holds a lease on the land that they can't use the base for a staging ground ? Publicly Oppose the war and turn around and be forced to watch strikes be lead from their shores? Maybe the only choices would have been allow and support the invasion or block the attacks, almost assisting that murderer Saddam. The U.S publicly attempted to Bribe Turkey with Billions in aid and failed...I wonder how much micronesia's support cost. Do you really believe that all these countries backed the U.S without any bribes? I would suspect that a few of these countries probably didn't even know Sadam was still alive or even cared if they did. My point is simple....the "Coalition of the willing" is more like the "Coalition of the Pursuaded" The U.S Govenment went against the will of the majortity of it's people, the will of the United Nations (which the U.S government helped build and vowed to follow and never violate)and against the will of the majority of the world. Major Focus was just recently placed on Iraq after years of idle foot draging...after soooo Long, why the sudden rush and unwillingness to give peace a chance ? The inspectors had just again set up shop and begun their work...which was providing usefull. If Bush had not been such an arrogant cowboy and let the U.N step up the number of inspectors to hundreds backed by troops in the area, who knows what kind of peacefull solution may have been attained ? We have been seeing so many "world firsts" in this American campaign (I can hardly call this a war for so many reasons) Why couldn't we see a country peacfully converted to a better nation as a first...What a great day for humanity that would have been. The world could have been given such great hope and aspirations for a possible end to the hatred between countries ! This could have shown sooo many countries the possibilities preacfull resolutions. This could have shown Ireland and so many other places ravaged by war for decades that their is still hope. This was the greatest possibility to show even the strongest haters of Americans that America did indeed stand for democracy and peace, not the killers and moral rapists that they have been said to be. Instead Bush desided a military conflict without the support of the majority of his people and an occupation was a better idea. I totally agree that Saddam needs to be expelled, but why now...why such a rush when we are finally after so many years just starting to make progress ? With all the inspectors and Reporters in the country and hundreds of thousands of troops on his door, don't you think his hands are "tied" so to speak. He doesn't even have the military strength he did when he invaded Kuwait, and he got his ass handed to him then ! Do you honestly think Saddam would attain "greater power", with such intense focus on his country ? This could have possibly been done peacefully and without risking human lives... American, British or Iraqi...Unfortunately Bush wanted a war, So much for his Christian Beliefs. : ( One day I hope that the U.S will be lead by a stronger and smarter leader. Someone who has a greater desire to do whats right, than a desire to do whats profitable. Damn, I just wanted to make a breif point...LOL Virtua:
If the U.S was so hell bent on Human rights like they say, then maybe they shouldn't have sought support from Rawanda or a few of those other "supporters" like Uganda,or Columbia who have death squads like we have police departments. LMAO, Columbia! The largest exporter of the drug that costs more american lives and the most misery worldwide ! Well done ! Virtua: (Edited by VirtuaGrower at 7:06 am on Mar. 23, 2003)
In Petro War I, papabush gave Egypt 9 billion $ od U.S. taxpayer to support the coalition and give Kuwait back to it's dictator.
LOL who cares, Kuwait is just a big ass army base anyway. It's people are only allowed in 1/3rd of their own counrty. LMAO, Some Liberation ! You'd think after 10 years of bleeding the country dry they would have left by now. Virtua:
Every poll taken has support for the US at above 50% and as of 2 days ago at 78%, the majority is for war. I would like any of you to name the countries that were against it. And see if its a greater number than those who support it. What you call bribes are compensation. Its an american led war, ofcourse were going to pick up the bill for most countries. It wouldnt be fair any other way. The first gulf war cost Turkey nearly 30 billioon dollars, theres no way it can handle that again. No one in the government had a problem with it. Not even the liberal democrats. Only those who dont see it from Turkeys point of view call it a bribe. I dont see how this is sudden? It started over 12 years ago, and bush has been talking about this for about a year now. Theres no rush, saddam has been given 12 years, 17 resolutions and numerous warnings to disarm, treat his people better and stop voilating human rights or step down or he will be forced down. you must not have been paying attention. And id like you to tell me anytime youve seen peace defeat a violent uncooperative regime regime? will peace shut down north koreas nukes? Will peace defeat Chavez in venezeula? The only reason peace defeated the Soviet Union was because of the threat of force, which everyone knows was the "only thing" working here, just not to its fullest extent as Blix and the UN both agreed on. If it aint broke, dont fix it. (Edited by Sylent Skull at 11:12 am on Mar. 23, 2003)
Something I heard today about America I liked "Never in the history of the world, has a country had so much power, and abuse it so little as america does." it went something like that, but you get the picture.
Thank you THC. I've noticed that Sylent has like 1650 posts...I've read about 100 of them. I have to ask...are they all full of crap or just the ones I read? LOL was that an American jounalist that said that Sylent? Maybe it was a Cuban or a Iranian ? Maybe he was from Nicaragua or Russia...you know the country that went bankrupt trying to keep up with our arms race. You seem to think that the former U.S.S.R didn't feel it was defending itself from Americans, like the U.S govnm't said it was from the U.S.S.R. Basically it was a race to see who could blow up the planet first. They thought the first A-Bomb could have killed us all before testing. But your right the U.S never abused it's power by testing that theory for us all, or isn't doing so just by the fact they hold enought "WMD" to kill everyone on the planet 9x over. Well said sylent. You are very informed my friend. Virtua: 1 last point to make...Sylent your talking about the polls after the descision was made, it's very easy to jump on the bandwagon after the fact, especially with the "If your not for the war your anti-american" manure going around......what were the polls saying BEFORE the war is whats important...wasn't the "pro-war" side in the minority ? Would you define that as a dictatorship or a democracy ? Oh and if the polls are correct that 78% of americans favor the war, where did the 200,000 protestors come from in NYC yesterday ? believe me, for every protestor on the street, there are 100x that in their homes. (Edited by VirtuaGrower at 9:31 am on Mar. 23, 2003)
Where do you get your numbers VG? LOL! Take a look at some more RECENT poles about the American opinion. (your numbers are dwindling!) I think its ridiculous in the first place to THINK that we have to get the worlds approval to protect our OWN fucking country! (Edited by Waitingfortheson at 11:36 am on Mar. 23, 2003)
I know I'll be able to sleep better at night knowing that bulwarks of democracy like Mongolia, Marshall Islands, Albania, Dominican Republic, Micronesia, Soloman Islands, Eritria, and ESPECIALLY Palau are behind the war. I wonder how many troops they have over there? ss, you mentioned 38 counties. How many countries in the world are there? I find it funny that you tally the number of countries that have cowed under to the military might (and $) of the U.S. and then one of your comrads states that we don't need other countries approval to wage an illegal, immoral and unjust war. (Edited by rangerdanger at 9:42 am on Mar. 23, 2003)
waiting....to which numbers are you reffering, and how exactly are you protecting the U.S by attacking Iraq? If anything your creating more problems. I mean most ot the terrorist attacks were from Saudi's or in one major case..an American. How far exactly do you think an old hulking scud could travel !? Hell they can barely hit within 2 miles of their target! Are you talking about the supposed Biological weapons ? You know the ones we gave them to Kill the Iranians ? Or are you imp the "possibility" that they might sell those weapons to terrorists like they could have for the last 10 years but haven't ? So realy what I guess I want to know is...what threat were you talking about exactly ? If you want to eliminate threats...maybe Saudi Arabia...wait, they can defend themselves...maybe Pakistan, where Osama is said to be hiding..You know the guy from the 9/11 attacks that people seem think is linked to Iraq somehow, and how Georgy JR. can say 9/11 and Iraq in the same breath, but "not really imp they have anything to do with each other" because that whould be a lie and you know how Governments NEVER EVER do that...yes Pakistan...**** wait...they have Nukes...Hmmm...threats....threats....who could be made to be a threat and be an easy and profitable target.....let me get back to you on this one.... This is turning into the largest game of AXIS an ALLIES I ever played....I just can't tell which is Axis and who are the Allies anymore ! Oh and you seem to think democracy is flawed ? That our President can do what ever he wants in the world...and you obviously agree when Jr. said "We don't need anyones permission" ? I don't know about you but that reminds me of a few other people in our History and I'm not talking about the great leaders like Churchill, Trudeau(for you Canadians) or JFK<--- we need more ppl like this guy ! Except the Marylin thing...but then again I can't blame him ! Oh and the polls at the time of the Descision to go to war are what count here...The amount of support at descision time...you do understand that right ? Making a descision and doing what the minority wants isn't a democracy...it's called protecting political intrests...not really what I look for in my Leaders man...Unless of course you have stock in Exxon and Lockheed Martin : ) Virtua:
The numbers before the war that supported it never went under 50%. pal. Who says its illegal? You suck too much UN dick. Ranger, sorry bud, but your answering a question with a question to avoid the topic wont work anymore. I asked for names of countries that were against the war. Answers not allowed are "the rest of the world" because there are many countries that just dont care either way. Technically, there is either 191, 192 or 193 countries in the world, depending on who you talk to.
Who says it's illegal? Well, the UN charter for one. The Geneva convention for 2. Need more? How about most of the world? So the only people who care are the ones who support the war? In the words of Andy Griffith "you're really something, you know that?"
I suck UN dick? I find it hard to believe there is a place for someone like you here. You're obviously in the same social class as Bonez or whatever that wankers name was. I thought gay bashing would have no place in a political forum. You represent so much of what is wrong with america these days Sylent, congradulations, you win a new tire for your trailer ! Oh and please try to stop making up your figures. Anyone who can read knows that support for the war was below %50 in the U.S. I don't have the figures off the top of my head, maybe someone other than Sylent could post them, but I won't fabricate them to prove a point. Virtua:
VG Don't feel bad. That's what skully does. Unable to argue the issues, he resorts to personal attacks.
virtua grower, you are making it rough on those dial-uppers i can imagine some of the heartache you have caused.
