Not Your Sweetie

Building a Coalition of the
Coerced


Jim Lobe,Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (IPS) - While U.S.
President George W. Bush (news - web sites) insists
that many countries are eager to join what
he calls a ''coalition of the willing'', a more apt name
may be ''coalition of the coerced'',
according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute
for Policy Studies, a progressive Washington
think tank.



''Almost all, by
our count, join only through coercion,
bullying,
bribery, or the implied threat of U.S. action that
would directly
damage the interests of the country,'' adds
the 13-page
report. ''This 'coalition of the coerced' stands in
direct conflict
with democracy.''

While U.S. officials insist publicly that
they are not bargaining over members' votes, this has
evoked widespread skepticism - not to say
derision - even from the generally credulous White
House press corps, which broke out in
laughter Tuesday after White House spokesman Ari
Fleischer (news - web sites) rejected a
question that suggested that ''the leaders of other
nations are buyable''.