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[casi] the "coalition" - more thoughts



Having looked more closely at the State Department press briefing
(extract below) - is there some way of getting more info from some of
the listed countries, ie. what *exactly* they said/promised, in order to
stop this myth of a 'solid 30 countries behind the US plans' getting too
firmly entrenched in the media and so becoming fact?

Also, how would one go about setting up a 'coalition of unwilling
citizens from the willing coalition countries' - a very specific 'not in
my name' campaign among ordinary people in those countries?  Is this in
the Stop the War coalition's sphere, or MoveOn.org or who?
best wishes

Cathy
-------

State department briefing 18 March
http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile
/geog/nea&f=03031837.tne&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
Mr Boucher is the spokesperson (Richard Boucher)

...
QUESTION: Did -- I assume that you asked everybody in the world whether
they were willing to go on this list, and therefore you had 160
rejections, were there?
MR. BOUCHER: No.
QUESTION: How many did you ask, then?
MR. BOUCHER: We asked a number of countries that we knew were involved
or potentially involved. I don't have the exact number, but I think the
fact that you have this many countries that want to stand up and
associate themselves with the effort at this point and that, as you
know, there are others who are taking steps and doing real things to
contribute to the effort to disarm Iraq is significant.
QUESTION: If any country in the world said, "We want to be listed," you
would not turn them down for any reason?
MR. BOUCHER: I suppose we would at least -- we would want to see that
there was something on their part that merited inclusion, and I think
all these countries have something that merits inclusion.
QUESTION: Let's get it straight. You said some of them only -- were only
listed because they wanted to be associated publicly with this.
MR. BOUCHER: And had an intention -- were either involved or had an
intention of participating in the future.
QUESTION: That's not what you said, really.
QUESTION: But you have no other country --
MR. BOUCHER: I think I said those things, yes.
QUESTION: -- no other country --
MR. BOUCHER: Let's slow down.
...
...


In message <036b01c2ed91$deda6250$7600a8c0@yourgzbq1hqzjr>, Voices UK
<voices@viwuk.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>      http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12271382,00.html
>
>      US UNVEILS COALITION
>
>Some 30 countries are backing America in its war against Iraq.
>
>The US State Department released a list of the those countries who are in
>the Coalition for the Immediate Disarmament of Iraq.
>
>Britain is included as is Turkey, which has yet to give the US permission to
>use its military bases.
>
>Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was confident Turkey would allow US
>forces to use its terrirtory to attack northern Iraq.
>
>Japan is the only country added which says it will only help after the war.
>
>Afghanistan, which was the last country to be attacked by the US when it
>sought to expel the Taliban, is also included.
>
>The full list of countries:
>
>Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Czech
>Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia,
>Hungary, Italy, Japan (post conflict), South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania,
>Macedonia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
>Spain, Turkey, Britain, Uzbekistan
>
>
>[ x.gif of type image/gif removed by lists.casi.org.uk -
>   attachments are not permitted on the CASI lists ]
>
>
>
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--
Cathy Aitchison

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