inside the glass house

Coalition of the willing: Who's doing what?
NEW YORK-- Less than 48 hours before the first US Tomahawk missiles hit Baghdad, President George W. Bush held his "war council" in the remote little Atlantic island of Azores, which is usually a refueling point for aircraft.

The joke was that the 900 sq mile Portuguese island was so tiny that the heads of the three countries -- the US, Britain and Spain -- met there because the leaders were assured there would be no mass anti-war demonstrations or protests to interrupt their powwow.

The US didn't need a big island, said one comedian, because it had only two allies-- and as a result they decided to meet inside a phone booth at the airport. As the war progressed last week, the US also picked up more countries, including more teeny-weeny islands such as Tonga, Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands, making the "coalition of the willing" a laughing stock.

By last week, the US claimed it had a war coalition of 49 countries. But most of them were sleeping partners, just slightly awake only to issue "statements of political and moral support".

While Singapore has allowed the use of its ports by the US military, Japan's contribution was only "a statement of support for President Bush", according to the Washington Post.

As of last week, the 49-member coalition did not include any of the SAARC countries either: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan or the Maldives. But some of them may or may not be on a secret list of 15 unnamed countries refusing to go public.

Perhaps the only two countries in the US-led coalition offering any substantial military support were Britain and Australia. But despite the addition of Rwanda, Eritrea and Costa Rica, the war on Iraq still does not have the type of international military support the US was able to garner for the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq.

So the current war is really being waged only by three out of the 191 UN member states: the US, Britain and Australia. Last week, the US was making an attempt to silence the highest policy-making body at the UN: the 191-member General Assembly.
A proposal to summon an emergency session of the General Assembly to discuss Iraq -- a symbolic reflection of the views of the entire international community -- has been stymied by strong US opposition.

The 15-member Security Council, although it has the power to make war and peace, does not speak for the overwhelming majority in the world body. "Our capitals are being heavily lobbied by US envoys who are pressuring us to block any moves to discuss the issue in the General Assembly," a South Asian diplomat was quoted as saying.
The pressure has been so intense, he said, that no member state has so far taken the initiative to call for the emergency session.

In a letter to various member states, the US has argued that as long as the Security Council remains "seized" on the matter, the General Assembly has no voice in the current war on Iraq, and must therefore refrain from taking up the issue.

The pressure - and in some cases implicit threats - has followed discussions between American envoys and Foreign Ministry officials in several world capitals. The US letter said: "We urge you to oppose such a session, and either to vote against or abstain, if the matter is brought to a vote." The note warned that "a General Assembly session could also further reinforce Iraq's belief that it has divided the international community, and is under no obligation to comply with Security Council resolutions".

In an implied threat, the US also said that an emergency session on Iraq would be "unhelpful" and viewed as a move "directed against the United States." The US pressure has been particularly directed at the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the largest single political grouping of developing nations, which until last month was chaired by South Africa, and is currently chaired by Malaysia.

A statement against the war, however, was issued last week by the NAM "troika", the third signatory being Cuba, which is expected to succeed Malaysia as the next NAM chairman.

The NAM troika said: "We view the imminent unilateral military action by the US and its allies as an illegitimate act of aggression." Although Malaysia has not formally requested an emergency session on behalf of NAM, the country's prime minister, Mahathir Mohamed, lashed out at the US last week.

Hinting at American pressure on NAM, he said "the United States has no right to dictate or decide the responsibility of the United Nations, since the superpower had no respect for the world body."

Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Mahathir demanded that the US and its allies stop their aggression and withdraw their troops immediately from Iraq. "The U.S. action was a bad precedent which was dangerous, and would affect every nation," he warned.
According to diplomatic sources in Geneva, the US also put pressure on members of the UN Human Rights Commission which voted against a proposed resolution calling for a "special sitting" of the Commission to discuss the humanitarian and human rights consequences of the current conflict in Iraq.

The resolution, which was opposed by the US, was co-sponsored by nine countries -- Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Malaysia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russia, Syria, Sudan and Zimbabwe. But it was rejected by a vote of 18 in favour to 25 against, with seven abstentions.

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