The Coalition of the Coerced

Photo from RawStory.com

Guest blogged by John Asmussen

Remember the "Coalition of the Willing?" Turns out they might not have been quite so willing after all. In fact, we should probably start calling them the "Coalition of the Coerced."

US President George W. Bush threatened nations with retaliation if they did not vote for a UN resolution backing the Iraq war, according to a transcript published Wednesday of a conversation he had with former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar.

In the transcript of a meeting on February 22, 2003 -- a month before the US-led invasion of Iraq -- published in El Pais newspaper, Bush tells Aznar that nations such as Mexico, Angola, Chile and Cameroon must know that the security of the United States is at stake.

He says during the meeting on his ranch in Texas that Angola stood to lose financial aid while Chile could see a free trade agreement held up in the US Senate if they did not back the resolution, the left-wing paper said.

The confidential transcript was prepared by Spain's ambassador to the United States at the time, Javier Ruperez, the paper said.

The White House did not challenge the accuracy of the transcript, with
national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe declining to comment.

But that's not all - according to Editor & Publisher:

Bush purportedly said at athe meeting he planned to invade Iraq in March "if there was a United Nations Security Council resolution or not....We have to get rid of Saddam. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March."

So that all happened on February 22, 2003. Gosh, does this mean Bush lied two weeks later, on March 8, 2003? That was when he told the nation, "We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq."Surely not! George W. Bush is a man of honor and integrity! The facts be damned!

P.S. Countries which had troops in or supported operations in Iraq at one point but have pulled out since: Nicaragua (Feb. 2004); Spain (late-Apr. 2004); Dominican Republic (early-May 2004); Honduras (late-May 2004); Philippines (~Jul. 19, 2004); Thailand (late-Aug. 2004); New Zealand (late Sep. 2004); Tonga (mid-Dec. 2004) Portugal (mid-Feb. 2005); The Netherlands (Mar. 2005); Hungary (Mar. 2005); Singapore (Mar. 2005); Norway (Oct. 2005); Ukraine (Dec. 2005); Japan (July 17, 2006); Italy (Nov. 2006); Slovakia (Jan 2007); Denmark (August 2007); South Korea )Dec.2006). Poland (Feb. 2005). The United Kingdom reduced the size of its contingent by 1,300 between May 2005 and May 2006, and also is planning to reduce significantly the size of its contingent by the end of 2007.

Looks like the Coalition of the Willing is reduced to a coalition of Evangelical Christians, Haliburton, and a few remaining rabid Bush supporters. . .

Sources: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070926/pl_afp/spainusiraqwar,
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003646639,
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050613/scahill,
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm