-----Original Message----- From: Michael Dinowitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 2:17 PM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: Coalition Members
So your defining support as troops on the ground? So by that definition, France will never be part of any coalition. It's hair splitting. These are countries who supported us in Iraq. This is international support, no matter how you cut it. Have some pulled out? Yes. Will more pull out as their citizens are butchered? Yes. Does it change the root question of internation support going in? No. I'm sorry, but I don't agree with that assessment. For me the root question is not "what international support did we have?" but rather "what was the quality of that international support?" The charge brought from the Kerry camp is that the coalition did not represent a "true" coalition but rather a token international effort "purchased" in many cases with concessions. If we're accepting the overwhelmingly cost of the war how can this be considered anything but a US action? The Bush camp, of course, claims the opposite: that the coalition is made up of countries opposed to terrorism and their assistance is drawn from that opposition. We are assuming the greater cost of the war simply because we are most prepared to do so, not because a lack of support forces us to. The number of names doesn't really affect these arguments: it's the particulars behind them. I'm not sure how to gauge that, but I do think it's an important question. Obviously the number of troops can't really help by itself (many of these countries have standing armies in the hundreds or less, so dozens of troops can represent a relatively large participation level). We might also look at the current coalition and see how it differs from the first Coalition as raised by the senior Bush. I'm not sure how that data could be best interpreted however. There may be no way, two weeks before the election, to ever get a clear picture of this. We may have to wait for a more sober, time-consuming reckoning, but personally that's what I'd like to see. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Purchase from House of Fusion, a Macromedia Authorized Affiliate and support the CF community. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=38 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:132064 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
