| There never was a "coalition of the willing" in the Iraq invasion. Nor was the invasion an effort to enforce the will of the U.N. |
| Most of the countries cited by Bush in his 2004 State of the Union address were coerced by economic threats. Our only real ally was Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of Great Britain. It is important to note that our ally was Mr. Blair specifically, because the majority of the British people were never in favor of the invasion, and in fact turned out to protest against the invasion in record numbers before the start of hostilities. Prosecutors on Wednesday [2/25/04] dropped their case against a former [British] intelligence employee who leaked a confidential memo from the United States asking Britain to spy on U.N. Security Council delegations before the Iraq War. The leaked memo asked the British listening agency for help bugging delegates' home and office telephones and e-mails. At the time, the United States and it's chief ally Britain were seeking to win Security Council backing for war in Iraq. Source: Dallas Morning News -- "Case dropped in Brit's leak of U.S. spy request" -- Associated Press - 2/26/04 Spain's opposition Socialists swept to an astonishing upset victory Sunday [3/14/04] in general elections, ousting the center-right party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in a groundswell of voter anger and grief over his handling of terrorist attacks in Madrid last week. … Many voters said they suspected al-Qaeda plotted the attacks to punish Mr. Aznar for supporting the Bush administration's war in Iraq, which Spaniards overwhelmingly have opposed. The Socialist victory was seen as a repudiation of Mr. Aznar…and his close bonds with Mr. Bush. It also threw an unexpected complication into the American-led occupation force in Iraq, where Spain has assigned 1,300 troops, because the Socialists have said they will withdraw them in the absence of a clear U.N. mandate. [Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the 43-year-old lawyer who becomes prime minister…said during the campaign that Mr. Aznar's government blindly followed the United States and deepened European divisions over the war and damaged Spain's relationship with France and Germany. The ruling party "has gambled everything on its blind support for the United States, or rather the Bush administration, at the price of weakening the bond between Spain and Europe," Mr. Zapatero said in January. The turnout was higher than expected. More than 77 percent of the country's 35 million voters cast ballots, compared with 55 percent four years ago. In Madrid the turnout was 80 percent. Source: Dallas Morning News -- "Spain's angry voters toss out ruling party" by Elaine Sciolino - New York Times via Dallas Morning News - 3/15/04 |
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