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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (13762)	2/27/2003 11:06:38 PM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Respond to of 25898

A Coalition of the Coerced Posted by Lakshmi on February 27, 2003 @ 3:34PM The White House has repeatedly claimed that it has assembled an anonymous number of allies to wage a war on Iraq, even without U.N. support. But who are these nations and why are they backing the U.S.? The Institute for Policy Studies has released a new study that shows just how the U.S. is using its economic and military muscle to coerce each member of the so-called "coalition of the willing." The authors, Middle East expert Phyllis Bennis, IPS Director John Cavanagh, and IPS Fellow Sarah Anderson, have compiled a list of 34 countries who belong to what is more appropriately described as a "coalition of the coerced" -- most of whom were recruited through bullying and bribes. According to the study, leverage used by the White House includes military aid, training, membership in NATO, and in the case of Germany -- the threat to withdraw U.S. military bases. Economic pressure has been effective with countries dependent on development aid, negotiating "free trade" agreements, or raising tarrifs on countries like Mexico that depend on the U.S. market for 80 percent of its export sales. According to Bennis, "It's hardly a new phenomenon for the U.S. to use bribes and threats to get its way in the UN. What's new this time around is the breathtaking scale of those pressures -- because this time around, global public opinion has weighed in, and every government leaning Washington's way faces massive opposition at home." alternet.org