The MemoryHole has saved a copy of the membership of the much-touted Coalition of the Willing:
Forty-eight countries are publicly committed to the Coalition, including:
Afghanistan
Albania
Angola
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Georgia
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Mongolia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Palau
Panama
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Rwanda
Singapore
Slovakia
Solomon Islands
South Korea
Spain
Tonga
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
UzbekistanThis number is still growing, and it is no accident that many member nations of the Coalition recently escaped from the boot of a tyrant or have felt the scourge of terrorism. All Coalition member nations understand the threat Saddam Hussein’s weapons pose to the world and the devastation his regime has wreaked on the Iraqi people.
* The population of Coalition countries is approximately 1.23 billion people.
* Coalition countries have a combined GDP of approximately $22 trillion.
* Every major race, religion, ethnicity in the world is represented.
* The Coalition includes nations from every continent on the globe.
So let’s see[1]:
* US: $10.99 trillion (2003 est.)
* Japan: $3.582 trillion (2003 est.)
* UK: $1.666 trillion (2003 est.)
* Italy: $1.55 trillion (2003 est.)
* Spain: $885.5 billion (2003 est.)
* South Korea: $857.8 billion (2003 est.)
* Australia: $571.4 billion (2003 est.)
* Netherlands: $461.4 billion (2003 est.)
* Turkey: $458.2 billion (2003 est.)
* Poland: $427.1 billion (2003 est.)
* Colombia: $263.2 billion (2003 est.)
The ten countries above (I’m not sure they are the top ten: I guessed) total more than half the total GDP with $11.5 trillion. Take into account Spain and Poland leaving the coalition — accounting for about 10% of that subtotal — while you look over the membership of the Coalition of the Willing (Rwanda, $10.11 billion? Palau, $174 million?), is this really a meaningful assemblage? I mean no disrespect but when you can’t convince your allies in the Cold War — France, Germany — and instead sign up the Marshall Islands and Tonga[2], is this really convincing?
fn1. All data from the CIA World Factbook
fn2. EastSouthWestNorth:
HOLBROOKE: Mighty allies like Palau and the Marshall Islands. Let’s get real. The United States did not forge a wide enough coalition.
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