- Governments' positions pre-2003 invasion of Iraq
: "This article is about the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. For more information on this particular part of the topic, see
Support and opposition for the 2003 invasion of Iraq ."This article describes the positions of world governments prior to the actual initiation of the
2003 invasion of Iraq , and not their current positions as they may have changed since then
thumb|350px|Orange: States participating in the invasion of Iraq">
Yellow: States in support of an invasion
Blue: States in opposition to an invasion
Grey: States with an uncertain or no official standpointBackground
In 2002, the
United States began to campaign for the overthrow ofIraq 's President,Saddam Hussein . The United States, under the administration ofGeorge W. Bush , argued that Saddam Hussein was a threat to global peace, a vicious tyrant, and a sponsor of internationalterrorism .Opinion on the war was greatly divided between nations. Some countries felt that the United States failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hussein had an active weapons program. Others felt that Iraq was an insignificant and militarily weak country that was not worth fighting over. Some saw the war as an act of
imperialism , and charged that the United States just wanted Iraq's oil.On the other side, supporting countries argued that Saddam Hussein was one of the 20th Century's worst despots, and that free countries should be obliged to remove brutal dictators from power. Others felt that Saddam's ties to terror groups were well-established, and his weapons programs very real. Although the U.S. has yet to find the location of the WMD's, they did find records of bank transactions from some of Saddam's accounts that paid various suicide bomber's families $25,000 in exchange for their son's martyrdom. Supporters also argue that the chemical and biological weapons that were believed to be in Saddam's control were shipped to Syria prior to the engagement and that the current existence of bio and chemical weapons labs in Iraq are an indication of Saddam's continued desire to produce WMD's. Furthermore, supporters point out that although the U.S. does have oil interests in the Middle East, so do the Islamic terror cells who want to gain control of the oil in an effort to pressure the western world. Additionally, they argue that the U.N. rejected the invasion of Iraq because of their involvement in the "Oil for Food Scandal," (established in 1995). In which U.N. and Iraqi officials skimmed money to allegedly bribe U.N. officials. Peter van Walsum, the former chairman of the Iraq sanctions committee from 1999 to 2000, speculated in a recent book that Iraq deliberatley divided the U.N. Security Council by awarding contracts to France, Russia, and China but not the United Kingdom or United States. Coincidentally it was France and Russia who were leading the opposition to the invasion of Iraq. He also claimed that sanctions were not effective and that the lack of Iraqi cooperation was designed to exacerbate the suffering of his own people. Other allegations included a $400,000 contribution from Shaker al-Kaffaji, and Iraqi-American businessman to produce a film by ex-UN inspector
Scott Ritter discrediting the weapons searches.Scott Ritter points out in his October 19, 2005 interview with Seymour Hersh that the US policy to removeSaddam Hussein from power started withPresident George H. W. Bush in August 1990. Ritter concludes from public remarks byPresident George H. W. Bush andSecretary of State James Baker that the economic sanctions would only be lifted whenSaddam Hussein was removed from power. The justification for sanctions was disarmament. TheCIA offered the opinion that containingSaddam Hussein for six months would result in the collapse of his regime. This policy resulted in the US military invasion and occupation ofIraq .MR. HERSH: One of the things about your book that's amazing is that it's not only about the Bush Administration, and if there are any villains in this book, they include Sandy Berger, who was Clinton's national security advisor, and Madeleine Albright.
Another thing that's breathtaking about this book is the amount of new stories and new information. Scott describes in detail and with named sources, basically, a two or three-year run of the American government undercutting the inspection process. In your view, during those years, '91 to'98, particularly the last three years, was the United States interested in disarming Iraq?
MR. RITTER: Well, the fact of the matter is the United States was never interested in disarming Iraq. The whole Security Council resolution that created the UN weapons inspections and called upon Iraq to disarm was focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is a vehicle for the maintenance of economic sanctions that were imposed in August 1990 linked to the liberation of Kuwait. We liberated Kuwait, I participated in that conflict. And one would think, therefore, the sanctions should be lifted.
The United States needed to find a vehicle to continue to contain Saddam because the CIA said all we have to do is wait six months and Saddam is going to collapse on his own volition. That vehicle is sanctions. They needed a justification; the justification was disarmament. They drafted a Chapter 7 resolution of the United Nations Security Council calling for the disarmament of Iraq and saying in Paragraph 14 that if Iraq complies, sanctions will be lifted. Within months of this resolution being passed--and the United States drafted and voted in favor of this resolution--within months, the President, George Herbert Walker Bush, and his Secretary of State, James Baker, are saying publicly, not privately, publicly that even if Iraq complies with its obligation to disarm, economic sanctions will be maintained until which time Saddam Hussein is removed from power.
That is proof positive that disarmament was only useful insofar as it contained through the maintenance of sanctions and facilitated regime change. It was never about disarmament, it was never about getting rid of weapons of mass destruction. It started with George Herbert Walker Bush, and it was a policy continued through eight years of the Clinton presidency, and then brought us to this current disastrous course of action under the current Bush Administration. [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051114/ritter]
Varying levels of support
Analysis of the count reveals the complexities in world diplomacy. Some national governments publicly denounced the invasion plan while at the same time accepting U.S. aid earmarked for the war, or providing to the war effort troops, fueling stations, military support, and/or airspace. Some national governments provided only a semblance of support.
Some nations originally on the White House list disavowed membership in the "coalition". Furthermore, significant opposition to the war exists in segments of the populations and Parliaments in many of the supporting nations. Adding to the complications, the Bush administration claimed to have the support of some 15 nations that wished to remain anonymous. This bloc has been dubbed by some "the shadow coalition" or, sardonically, "the coalition of the unwilling to be named".
Support can be so different in nature, from armed troops to use of airspace and bases, logistic support, political support, to participation in reconstruction efforts, that it appears to some to be difficult to exclude most countries from the official list, except Iraq for obvious reasons (although some might claim some movements inside Iraq will probably also help reconstructing their own country).
After
George W. Bush (March 26 ,2003 ) mentionedWarsaw 's contribution prominently in a speech,Poland asked that its participation in the coalition not be used for "propaganda purposes".Countries supporting the U.S. position
Shortly before the Iraq war began, the US government announced that 49 countries were joined in a "
coalition of the willing " in favor of forcibly removing Saddam Hussein from power inIraq , with some number of other countries expressing their support in private. The 49 countries named by theWhite House wereAfghanistan ,Albania ,Angola ,Australia ,Azerbaijan ,Bulgaria ,Colombia ,Costa Rica ,Czech Republic ,Denmark ,Dominican Republic ,El Salvador ,Eritrea ,Estonia ,Ethiopia , Georgia,Honduras ,Hungary ,Iceland ,Italy ,Israel ,Japan ,Kuwait ,Latvia ,Lithuania ,Republic of Macedonia ,Marshall Islands ,Micronesia ,Mongolia ,Netherlands ,Nicaragua ,Palau ,Panama ,Philippines ,Poland ,Portugal ,Romania ,Rwanda ,Singapore ,Slovakia ,South Korea ,Spain ,Tonga ,Turkey ,Uganda ,Ukraine ,United Kingdom ,United States , andUzbekistan . Of these, the following countries had an active or participant role, by providing either significant troops or political support:Australia ,Bulgaria ,Czech Republic ,Denmark ,Hungary ,Italy ,Japan ,Latvia ,Lithuania ,Netherlands ,Philippines ,Poland ,Portugal ,Romania ,Slovakia ,Spain ,Turkey ,Ukraine ,United Kingdom and (United States ).Four of these countries supplied combat forces directly participating in the invasion of Iraq: the
United States ,United Kingdom ,Australia , andPoland . Other countries have provided logistical and intelligence support, chemical and biological response teams, overflight rights, humanitarian and reconstruction aid, and political support.Europe
In late
January 2003 , a statement released to various newspapers and signed by the leaders of Britain,Spain ,Italy ,Portugal ,Hungary ,Poland ,Denmark and theCzech Republic showed support for the US, saying that Saddam should not be allowed to violate U.N. resolutions. The statement went on to say that Saddam was a "clear threat to world security", and urged Europe to unite with the United States to ensure that the Iraqi regime is disarmed.Later, the Eastern European "
Vilnius ten " countries,Estonia ,Latvia ,Lithuania ,Slovenia ,Slovakia ,—all now members of the EU—Bulgaria ,Romania ,Albania ,Croatia , and theRepublic of Macedonia issued another statement on Iraq, in general support of the US's position but not commenting on the possibility of a war without support of the UN Security Council. However, as Donald Rumsfeld stated that Slovenia and Croatia were members of the US led coalition, Slovenia's government rejected this statement and its Prime MinisterAnton Rop reiterated that Slovenia has conditioned the decision to go to war upon a UN Security Council go-ahead to the attack; Croatia's PresidentStjepan Mesic called the war illegal. French PresidentJacques Chirac commented on the statement of the ten Eastern European countries saying: "It is not well brought up behavior. They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet". It was believed by some that Jacques Chirac's criticism could be presumed to imply thatRomania andBulgaria , which were not yet official EU members, should not be allowed to join because of the statement. After criticism by the media, Chirac's remark was taken back, and, consequently, the issue has not affected Romania or Bulgaria's chances for EU accession. Romanian PresidentIon Iliescu called Chirac's remarks irrational, saying "such reproaches are totally unjustified, unwise, and undemocratic". Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister Lyubomir Ivanov told reporters "it is not the first time that pressure is being exerted upon us in one or another form but in my opinion this is not the productive way to reach unity and consensus in the Security Council".In the
Netherlands thefirst Balkenende cabinet supported the USA. After that government fell in October 2002, there were new elections in January, which were won by theSecond Balkenende cabinet who chose to continue their predecessors' policy. Dutch soldiers were sent to Iraq, and it was recently announced that they would stay at least until after the summer of 2004. So far two Dutch soldiers have died in Iraq.United Kingdom
Throughout the conflict, the
United Kingdom 's government remained the strongest supporter of the U.S. plan to invade Iraq albeit originally seeking a UN Mandate. Prime MinisterTony Blair frequently expressed support for the United States in this matter, while Members of Parliament (MPs) were divided. Blair experienced a significant rebellion from many Labour MPs and in a debate in the House of Commons, he achieved a parliamentary majority with the support of most Conservative MPs and Ulster Unionists. Although the Conservatives were supportive of the Government's stance as a whole, a significant minority of their MPs rebelled against the party line, including figures such asKenneth Clarke . The Liberal Democrats opposed the war, and their MPs were visibly unanimous on the issue. One former cabinet minister delivered a stinging personal attack on the Prime Minister, calling his behaviour 'reckless'. Robin Cook MP and a few other government ministers resigned to the backbenches over the issue. Clare Short MP threatened to resign from the cabinet, but then remained for two months before finally resigning onMay 12 ,2003 . Cook, a former Foreign Secretary and at the timeLeader of the House of Commons , delivered a [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2859431.stm resignation speech] , which was received with a standing ovation. Cook indicated that while he agreed with most of Blair's policies, he could not support the war.The United Kingdom has sent 45,000 personnel from the
British Army ,Royal Navy , andRoyal Air Force , including the aircraft carrier HMS "Ark Royal" to the Gulf region. The ground component included 100 Challenger tanks. The First Armoured Division's 7th Armoured Brigade and 4th Armoured Brigade took part in the war.Before the war, public opinion polls showed that the majority of British people would have supported the war with a clear UN mandate for war, but were strongly opposed to war without another resolution in addition to Resolution 1441, which indicated that Saddam Hussein would face serious consequences if he failed to comply with the resolution.
Poland
In March of
2003 , the Polish government announced that it would participate in a U.S.-led Iraq invasion and sent about 200 personnel. Poland also sent 54 soldiers in an eliteGROM commando unit, a logistic support ship,ORP Kontradmirał Xawery Czernicki , with aFORMOZA navy commando unit, and 74 antichemical contamination troops. Polls showed that, as in other central andeastern European countries, the population was generally against the war, although not as strongly as in Spain, Italy, or the United Kingdom. One explanation given for this difference of opinion was that the populations of many of the central and Eastern European nations remember what it was like living under SovietCommunist rule, which during stalinist times was comparable to Saddam's brutal Iraq regime.Asia
Kuwait
Perhaps the only major regional ally that supported the US' action was
Kuwait , whose hostility towards Saddam's Iraq stemmed from the events surrounding theGulf War . The public appeared to consider Saddam to be as much of a threat in 2003 as he was in the past, and were particularly interested in attempts to repatriate many Kuwaiti citizens who had disappeared during the Gulf War, and were presumably languishing in Iraqi jails up until Saddam's fall from power. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24537-2003Jan21.html]Japan
On
March 17 ,2003 ,Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi said that he supported the U.S., U.K., andSpain for ending diplomatic efforts againstIraq . He also indicated that no furtherUN resolution was necessary to invade Iraq. [http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030318a1.htm]On
March 26 ,2003 , Japan's ambassador to theUN first stated in theSecurity Council that Japan supported the acts of the U.S. and allied countries. He said that the Iraqidictatorship possessedweapons of mass destruction and had been continuouslyviolating UN resolutions for past 12 years. [http://www.mainichi.co.jp/news/selection/archive/200303/27/20030327k0000e010031000c.html]At home, the prime minister was strongly opposed in this decision both by the opposition and parts of his own coalition government. Most Japanese believe that it was motivated purely to improve Japan's relations to the US government, which had been improving since the beginning of the Bush administration.
Furthermore, the 9th amendment of
Japanese Constitution (in place after the end of World War II) forbids any Japanese military involvement overseas. Therefore, Japan did not take part in the invasion itself, but did provide logistical support to the US Navy,which the government considered a non-combat operation, a position that many Japanese disagree with.Israel
Saddam Hussein's Iraq was among the most militant opponents of Israel's right to exist. During the 1991 Gulf War Saddam Hussein targeted Israel with Scud missiles despite the fact Israel was not a member of the coalition arrayed against the Iraqi regime.
Saddam Hussein's Iraq [also] shelter [ed] several prominent Palestinian terrorist organizations in Baghdad [and supported terrorism within Israel.] In April 2002, Saddam Hussein increased from $10,000 to $25,000 the money offered to families of Palestinian suicide/homicide bombers. The rules for rewarding suicide/homicide bombers [were] strict and insist [ed] that only someone who blows himself up with a belt of explosives gets the full payment. Payments [were] made on a strict scale, with different amounts for wounds, disablement, death as a "martyr" and $25,000 for a suicide bomber. Mahmoud Besharat, a representative on the West Bank who [was] handing out to families the money from Saddam, said, "You would have to ask President Saddam why he is being so generous. But he is a revolutionary and he wants this distinguished struggle, the intifada, to continue." (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/decade/sect5.html)
In 1991 an Israeli airstrike destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear facility derailing Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. The U.S. led campaign to remove the Saddam Hussein regime permanently removed the threat Saddam Hussein posed to Israel's security and existence.
Other Asian States
Singapore (who shortly after reached a Free Trade Agreement with the US), thePhilippines , andSouth Korea all pledged support for the war, as did a number of smallerPacific island nations.The
Marshall Islands ,Federated States of Micronesia , andPalau (former American trust territories with a combined population of around 186,000) are legally sovereign and are full member states of theUnited Nations ; however, their governments are largely dependent on theUnited States Congress for their funding through Compacts of Free Association. Some critics of the war assert that if these states took anti-war stances, they would be severely harmed politically and economically because of their reliance on the United States.Australia
The Howard government in
Australia was a strong and uncritical supporter of United States policy. Australia has committed a little over 2,000 military personnel, including asquadron ofF/A-18 Hornet fighters and 150 SAS troops (seeAustralian contribution to the 2003 Gulf War for details). At first, the Australian public was clearly and consistently opposed to their government's joining the war without explicit UN backing (around 60 to 70% of those polled), but once the war began public opinion swayed somewhat: a reputable wartime poll had support at 57% with 36% opposed. A March 2006 poll by UMR Research, on behalf of the Labor-linked political consultancy Hawker Britton, found 65% of respondents believed Australia should leave Iraq immediately or no later than May of that year [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/majority-want-australians-troops-out-of-iraq-poll/2006/03/20/1142703262188.html] . The Labor Party, on the whole, opposed the war. Major anti-war demonstrations were reported fromSydney ,Melbourne ,Canberra ,Brisbane , andHobart , as well as other Australian cities. [http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/04/16/sprj.irq.australia.troops/]Opposing U.S. Position
Some nations that were allies of the United States during the
Gulf War were either opposed to the second Iraq war or were reluctant to help with it. Prior to the war, several countries called on the US to wait for the weapons inspectors to complete their investigations. However, the US and its allies maintained that reasonable patience had been given to Saddam and that it was clear that he was not willing to cooperate with the inspectors, as he beat around the bush whenever the weapons of mass destruction issue came up. This, if not the fact that the inspectors had previously been kicked out of Iraq in 1998 alone, was, according to the war's supporters, sufficient violation of UN mandates to justify more severe action. It should be noted thatScott Ritter , chief UN weapons inspector at the time, says that the inspectors were "not" kicked out by Saddam Hussein, but were withdrawn byBill Clinton [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/21/144258] :Public perception is that the Iraqis were confrontational and blocking the work of the inspectors. In 98% of the inspections, the Iraqis did everything we asked them to because it dealt with disarmament. However when we got into issues of sensitivity, such as coming close to presidential security installations, Iraqis raised a flag and said, “Time out. We got a C.I.A. out there that's trying to kill our president and we're not very happy about giving you access to the most sensitive installations and the most sensitive personalities in Iraq.” So we had these modalities, where we agreed that if we came to a site and the Iraqis called it ‘sensitive,’ we go in with four people.
In 1998, the inspection team went to a site. It was the Baath Party headquarters, like going to Republican Party headquarters or Democratic Party headquarters. The Iraqis said, “You can't come in – you can come in. Come on in.” The inspectors said, “The modalities no longer apply.” The Iraqis said, “If you don't agree to the modalities, we can't support letting you in,” and the Iraqis wouldn't allow the inspections to take place.
Bill Clinton said, “This proves the Iraqis are not cooperating,” and he ordered the inspectors out. But you know the United States government ordered the inspectors to withdraw from the modalities without conferring with the Security Council. It took Iraqis by surprise. Iraqis were saying, “We're playing by the rules, why aren’t you? If you're not going play by the rules, then it’s a game that we don't want to participate in.” Bill Clinton ordered the inspectors out. Saddam didn't kick them out.
Many argued that, since Iraq had no connection to the
September 11, 2001 attacks , going to war against Iraq as part of a broader war on terror was illegitimate. Others opposed to US military action argued that insufficient and, as in the case of the uranium Niger deal, even falsified documents might have been produced in order to show Iraq as "an immediate threat". Accordingly, any such exaggeration would have been contrary tointernational law . They also claimed that the issue of weapons of mass destruction (if indeed there were any left in Iraq by 2003) could have been solved through continued inspections and diplomacy, and insisted that the weapons issue was merely an attempt to hide American desires to seize oil wells, further a military presence in the Middle East, and frighten other OPEC nations into submission. This position was later supported by Bush's former Secretary of the TreasuryPaul Henry O'Neill who stated that the administration had sought for a reason to invade Iraq ever since Bush took office, with potential oil spoils charted in early documents. The Bush camp denies these allegations as ludicrous, though they have admitted that the Niger uranium documents were given to them by a source of questionable credibility and it was simply a mistake on their part to have assumed that the documents told the truth.Europe
On
January 29 , 2003, theEuropean Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution opposing unilateral military action against Iraq by the United States. According to the resolution, "a pre-emptive strike would not be in accordance with international law and the UN Charter and would lead to a deeper crisis involving other countries in the region".France ,Germany andRussia were from the very outset publicly opposed to a US-led war. As the US took a more militaristic position, these three nations' governments became increasingly outspoken in opposition to the invasion. In the end, France made it clear it would use its UN Security Council veto against a proposed resolution for war in Iraq at that given point. (SeeThe UN Security Council and the Iraq war .) OnMarch 17 , 2003, the US and Britain stated that they would not submit a resolution to the Security Council, admitting they did not have enough votes to force France or Russia to use a veto. In fact, only Bulgaria and Spain (in addition to the US and UK) declared outright that they wanted to vote for the U.S./UK resolution, while a few more nations, such asChile andGuinea , had only said they would consider supporting it. Though Bush and Blair were optimistic that the 9 out of 15 votes of approval necessary to pass a UN resolution would have been reached, France's threatened veto would have immediately quashed the resolution, as any one of the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, the PRC, and France, had (and has) the unilateral power to veto any resolution, even if the vote is 11-1 in favor. Russia and China expressed that they likely would have supported the UN resolution if some more diplomatic channels had been exercised first, but Bush and Blair stopped trying to appease those two nations once France voiced its unconditional opposition to the resolution. Amid US anger at what they considered France's reckless use of its veto power, the French government pointed to example after example of times when the USA had vetoed such resolutions that otherwise had an 11-1 margin. This controversial abuse of power that France, Britain, China, Russia, and USA could, and often do, make use of prompted harsh international criticism of the UN resolution process, with many calling to reform it, as it gives unfair emphasis to those five nations over all others and just one of the five's dissent could, and often does, have drastic effects on international affairs.German Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder made his opposition to the invasion an issue in his electoral campaign. Some analysts credited Schröder's come-from-behind victory onSeptember 22 to tapping a broad anti-war sentiment among the German people. His critics and the proponents of the Iraq war suggested that he was using the controversy of the war and appealing to the anti-American sentiment felt by the German public for the sole purpose of gaining popularity and winning. This notion deeply offended the American administration and led to a straining of relations between the two nations. However, Schröder metColin Powell and a rapprochement was established after the Iraqi regime was overturned. [http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_869215_1_A,00.html] At present the governments of the two nations have agreed to put the Iraq issue behind them and move forward.Belgium [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/16/sprj.irq.eu/index.html] ,Switzerland [http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=305&sid=4562335] ,Sweden [http://www.utrikes.regeringen.se/inenglish/frontpage/questions_iraq030306.htm] [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/16/sprj.irq.eu/index.html] ,Norway [http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article522007.ece] ,Greece [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2744375.stm] ,Austria ,Liechtenstein , andSerbia also condemned the war. TheCzech Republic ,Croatia [http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/mar03/hed5583.shtml] , andSlovenia [http://nato.gov.si/eng/press-centre/press-releases/2049/] were already mentioned above.In
Finland ,Anneli Jäätteenmäki of the Center Party won the elections after she had accused her rivalPaavo Lipponen , who was prime minister at the time, of allying neutral Finland with the United States in the war in Iraq during a meeting with President George W. Bush. Lipponen denied the claims and declared that "We support the UN and the UN Secretary-General." Jäätteenmäki resigned as prime minister after 63 days in office amid accusations that she had lied about the leak of the documents about the meeting between Bush and Lipponen. This series of events was considered scandalous and it is named Iraq leak or Iraq-gate. The main point was that special advisor of President of Finland had leaked series of documents which were considered secret. Special advisor Martti Manninen gave these secret documents to Annneli Jäätteenmäki who used information provided by these documents to accuse Paavo Lipponen of supporting Iraq war. In these secret documents was included memo(s) of discussions between George W. Bush and Paavo Lipponen. Later on criminal charges were pressed against Martti Manninen for leaking secret documents and against Anneli Jäätteenmäki for incitement and aid to the same.The Finnish government stated that they took a stronger stand on the Iraq question at a meeting chaired by President Tarja Halonen. The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy issued a statement according to which the use of force against Iraq would not be acceptable without the authority of the UN Security Council. [http://www.iht.com/articles/508654.html] [http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20030310IE4]
European Public Reaction
Millions demonstrated on the streets of Britain,
Ireland ,Spain ,Portugal ,Italy , theNetherlands ,Turkey ,Austria ,France ,Switzerland ,Greece ,Germany ,Sweden ,Norway ,Belgium ,Denmark ,Iceland , theCzech Republic ,Bulgaria ,Romania ,Cyprus ,Russia ,Belarus , and theUkraine .Fact|date=July 2007Donald Rumsfeld tried to downplay the French and German governmental criticism, most prominently heard because both countries at that time were members of theUnited Nations Security Council , as the opinion of "Old Europe ", while he relied on a new situation after the EU enlargement.Fact|date=November 2007 Opinion polls showed that the war was not supported by a majority of the public in the Central and Eastern Europe either, despite most of their governments' support.Fact|date=November 2007Vatican City
The
Holy See took a firm stance against the U.S. plan to invade Iraq.Pope John Paul II 's special envoy, Pío Cardinal Laghi, was sent by the Church to talk withGeorge W. Bush to express opposition to the war onIraq . The Catholic Church said that it was up to theUnited Nations to solve the international conflict throughdiplomacy . According to the Church, the Iraq war, and indeed most modern wars, did not satisfy thejust war requirements set bySt. Augustine of Hippo and other theologians. The method oftotal war (i.e. any non accidental attacks on non combatants, or civilian infrastructure), which has been used in most modern wars since theAmerican Civil War and which was used in Iraq, are not permitted. The Church was also worried of the fate of the Chaldean Catholics of Iraq. The Vatican worried that they might see the same destruction as happened to the Churches and Monasteries after the war inKosovo . The Secretary for Relations with States,Archbishop Jean Louis Tauran , said that only the UN can decide on a military attack against Iraq, because a unilateral war would be a "crime against peace and a crime againstinternational law ". TheCardinal Secretary of State of the Vatican,Angelo Cardinal Sodano , indicated that only theUnited Nations Security Council had the power to approve an attack in self-defense, and only in case of a previousaggression . His opinion was that the attack on Iraq did not fall into this category and that a unilateral aggression would be a "crime against peace and a violation of theGeneva Convention ". [http://www.iht.com/articles/83231.html]Russia
Russia n Foreign MinisterIgor Ivanov joined France and Germany and said the council could not ignore the fact that "substantial progress" had been made since chief weapons inspectorHans Blix andInternational Atomic Energy Agency Director GeneralMohamed El Baradei visited Iraq in January. Russia also has oil interests in Iraq and Iraq owes Russia over $8 billion dollars in debt.Belarus
President
Alexander Lukashenko saidBelarus unanimously denounced US aggression in Iraq. [http://english.pravda.ru/cis/2003/03/21/44822.html]Americas
Canada
While
Canada participated in theGulf War of 1991, it refused to engage in a war on Iraq without UN approval. Prime MinisterJean Chrétien said onOctober 10 , 2002 that Canada would be part of any military coalition sanctioned by the United Nations to invade Iraq. With the subsequent withdrawal of American and British diplomatic efforts to gain UN sanction, Jean Chrétien announced in Parliament onMarch 17 , 2003 that Canada would not participate in the pending invasion, though he offered the US and its soldiers his moral support. Two days earlier, a quarter million in Montreal marched against the pending war. Major anti-war demonstrations took place in several other Canadian cities.
= Mexico, Central and South America =Mexico ,Venezuela [http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/81082.htm] ,Brazil [http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/3/19/211836.shtml] ,Argentina andChile condemned the UN-opposed war, even though Chile had expressed the likelihood of its voting to approve of a UN war resolution, had one been submitted. In addition to Chile, Mexico also had a seat on the Security Council and had considered approving of the resolution. Major demonstrations were reported from La Paz, Bolivia;Lima , Peru;Bogotá , Colombia;Buenos Aires , Argentina; São Paulo andRio de Janeiro , Brazil; and Santiago, Chile.Pierre Charles , the late Prime Minister of the Caribbean island nation ofDominica also condemned the war.After Costa Rica's Constitutional Court ruled that the war broke international law and that the country's support for the war contradicted its constitution, the government declared its withdrawal of support, which was merely moral anyway as Costa Rica has no army. Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic retreated their troops.
= Africa =The
African Union , with all of its 52 members, condemned the war.Guinea ,Cameroon andAngola had seats on the Security Council, and amid talks of American financial donations would have likely voted in approval of a UN war resolution against Iraq. [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/02/20/africa.summit/index.html] Major protests were reported fromCairo andAlexandria , Egypt;Rabat , Morocco;Mombasa , Kenya;Mogadishu , Somalia;Nouakchott ;Tripoli , Libya;Windhoek , Namibia;Johannesburg andCape Town , South Africa.Asia
People's Republic of China
The
People's Republic of China pressed for continued U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq after two arms inspectors told the Security Council they had found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/14/sprj.irq.un.world.reax] Although it stated its wish that the situation be resolved peacefully, China did not threaten to exercise its Security Council veto and had abstained in many previous decisions on Iraq. Demonstrations were reported fromHong Kong and even in mainland China, where exercising free speech is usually shunned, some protests were tolerated. [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/EC22Ad01.html]Pakistan
Major anti-war demonstrations took place in the cities of
Peshawar ,Islamabad ,Karachi ,Lahore , andQuetta . GeneralPervez Musharraf faced already fierce opposition from his mostly Muslim population for his support of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan.Pakistan also had a seat on the UN Security Council during the pre-war period, though would not have likely voted in favor of the resolution at the time Bush had planned to present it, in an attempt to quell civilian dissent.India
India did not support the war on Iraq. According to a Statement by the Ministry of External Affairs "The military action [...] lacks justification" [http://www.indianembassy.org/press_release/2003/mar/20.htm]Delhi ,Calcutta ,Srinagar , andMumbai saw major peace demonstrations.
= Turkey =Turkey originally showed reservations, fearing that a power vacuum after Saddam's defeat might have given rise to a Kurdish state [http://home.cogeco.ca/~konews/3-12-02-tky-fear-k-nationalists.html] . On 1 March 2003 the Turkish parliament failed narrowly to approve a government motion to permit the deployment in Turky for six months of 62,000 US troops, 255 jet aircraft, and 65 helicopters ["Turkish Probe", 2 March 2003] .In December 2002, Turkey moved approximately 15,000 soldiers to its border with Iraq [http://abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANewsStories_748606.htm] . The
Turkish General Staff stated that this move was in light of recent developments and did not indicate an attack was imminent. In January2003 , the Turkish foreign minister,Yasar Yakis , said he was examining documents from the time of theOttoman Empire in order to determine whether Turkey had a claim to the oil fields around the northern Iraqi cities ofMosul andKirkuk . In late January2003 , Turkey invited at least five other regional countries to a "'last-chance' meeting to avert a US-led war against Iraq. The group urged neighboring Iraq to continue cooperating with the UN inspections, and publicly stated that "military strikes on Iraq might further destabilize theMiddle East region".In the end, Turkey did grant access to its land and harbours as asked for by U.S. officials.
Saudi Arabia
Pre-war, Saudi Arabia's public position had been one of neutrality in the conflict; worldwide media reported that, despite numerous American attempts, Saudi Arabia would not offer the American military any use of its land as a staging ground for the invasion of Iraq. In an interview, Prince Saud Alfaysal, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister when asked whether Saudi Arabia would allow more US troops to be placed on Saudi soil, the foreign minister replied, "under the present circumstances with no proof that there is a threat imminent from Iraq, I do not think Saudi Arabia will join in" [Interview with Saud al-Faysal, Iraq Watch, 11 August 2002] . This was later explained to have been a public front, as Saudi Arabia, as well as Turkey and Kuwait, was actually one of the most important allies in terms of offering coalition soldiers its land, including military bases. It was also eventually learned that a high-ranking Saudi prince had been at the
White House on the day that the Iraq war began, and Bush administration officials told the prince to alert his government that the initial phase of the war had begun, hours before missiles first landed in Baghdad.Officially, Saudi Arabia wished to see Saddam Hussein and the Ba’ath regime go, but feared the aftermath [Rick Fawn and Raymond Hinnebusch "The Iraq Causes and Consequences War" (USA, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers:2006)] . As the US invasion of Iraq became inevitable, the question of whether Saudi Arabia wanted the Baath regime replaced by a pro-Western government "pumping oil in greater quantities than Saudi Arabia" posed a dilemma for the Saudi government [Simon Henderson, Weekly Standard, 13 May 2002.] . Furthermore, Saudi Arabia worried about the possibility of an Iraqi Shia pro-Iranian government installed at its doorstep, following the demise of Saddam's Sunni regime. Saudi Arabia's response to the war had to be handled carefully so that the US-Saudi strategic alliance did not suffer, while at the same time maintaining the semblance of Arab solidarity against US aggression to appease its own indigenous population [Rick Fawn and Raymond Hinnebusch "The Iraq Causes and Consequences War" (USA, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers: 2006, p. 155)] .In October 2002 Saudi Arabia declared that his country would allow US use of Saudi military facilities to attack Iraq, provided there was UN approval for it; but on 4 November 2002, Faysal told CNN that it would not 4. Moreover, in the same month, during a televised address on Saudi television, Crown Prince Abdullah insisted that "our armed forces will, under no circumstances, step one foot into Iraqi territory" 5. However, the contradiction and ambiguity of the Saudi position reflected the regime's desperation both to appease Washington and not be seen providing a territorial base for the US attack. It also reflected a lack of consensus among senior members of the royal family.Syria
Syria opposed the war and refused to submit to Washington's demand for co-operation [Rick Fawn and Raymond Hinnebusch "The Iraq Causes and Consequences War" (USA, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers:2006, p. 129] . it acted in concert with Russia, France, and Germany in the Security Council, even voting in support of Resolution 1441, mandating the renewal of United Nations weapons inspections in Iraq, in the hope this might deprive the neoconservatives of their excuse for war 8. Syria's UN ambassador, Makhail Wehbe, said he believed that the evidence presented by the United States to the Security Council on Iraq's weapons had been fabricated [Oxford Business Group, online briefing, 2 October 2003, http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com] . Syrian commentators explained that none of Iraq's neighbors felt it was a threat, and that weapons of mass destruction were a mere pretext for a war motivated by the interests of Israel and the US companies that hoped to profit from post-war reconstruction contracts [Steven S. and Eli C. "The Syrian Government and Media on the War in Iraq," Middle East Research Institute, Inquiry and Analysis Series no. 134, 12 April 2003,http://memri.org] .
Jordan
King Abdullah of Jordan advised Washington against the Iraq War but ended up bandwagoning with the US, even giving the invaders covert and tacit support, in defiance of the overwhelming opinion of his own public [Rick Fawn and Raymond Hinnebusch "The Iraq Causes and Consequences War" (USA, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers:2006, p. 143)] . The Jordanian government publicly opposed the war against Iraq. The King stressed to the United States and European Union that a diplomatic solution, in accordance with UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1284 (1999) and 1409 (2002), was the only appropriate model for resolving the conflict between Iraq and the UN [Rick Fawn and Raymond Hinnebusch "The Iraq Causes and Consequences War" (USA, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers:2006, p. 144)] . In August 2002 he told the Washington Post that an attempt to invade Iraq would be a "tremendous mistake" and that it could "throw the whole area into turmoil" [G. Kessler and P. Slevin, "Abdullah: Foreign Oppose Attack; Jordanian King to Urge Bush to FOcus on Peace in Mideast, Not Invasion of Iraq," Washington Post, 1 August 2002] .
The Middle East
The
Arab League unanimously condemned the war, with the exception of Kuwait. [http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?ObjectID=5B7E1DCE-8030-48C4-8D953094DF529370&Title=Arab%20League%20Rejects%20Military%20Strike%20Against%20Iraq&db=voa] Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud publicly claimed that the U.S. military would not be authorized to use Saudi Arabia's soil in any way to attack Iraq. However, this was later revealed to have been a front, as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and some other Arab states did, in fact, provide support to American troops, but they did not wish to risk offending Saddam pre-war by making those statements publicly.( [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,59796,00.html] ) After ten years of U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, cited among reasons by Saudi-bornOsama bin Laden for hisSeptember 11 , 2001al-Qaeda attacks on America, most of U.S. forces were withdrawn from Saudi Arabia in 2003. ( [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-08-28-ustroops-saudiarabia_x.htm] ) For the duration of the war, the Saudi public remained strongly against the US action, even regardless of a UN mandate. Prior to the war, the government repeatedly attempted to find a diplomatic solution, generally agreeing with the US position on Saddam's menace, even going so far as to urge Saddam to go into voluntary exile--a suggestion that angered him a great deal.Anti-war demonstrations took place in
Damascus , Syria;Baghdad , Iraq;Sanaa ;Maskat ;Amman , Jordan;Widhat , Maan,Irbid ,Beirut ,Sidon , Lebanon;Bethlehem ,Nablus ,Tulkarem ,Jenin ,Ramallah andGaza ,Palestinian cities in theWest Bank andGaza Strip ;Tel Aviv ,Israel , and in the nation ofBahrain . As is the case inEgypt , demonstrations are not common in many of these less-than-democratic countries and some regimes saw themselves in danger because of riots.Other Asian states
Bangladesh ,Malaysia [http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/74903/1/.html] andIndonesia [http://www.imdiversity.com/Article_Detail.asp?Article_ID=22559] , all largest Muslim countries of world andVietnam condemned the war.Bangladesh urged to solve the problem through discussion rather than war. Huge anti-war demonstrations took place inDhaka ,Bangladesh ;Kathmandu ,Nepal ;Colombo ,Sri Lanka ;Kelantan ;Jakarta and Java,Indonesia ;Surabaya ; andBangkok , Thailand.
= New Zealand = The New Zealand government disagreed with its neighbour, Australia, and did not support the war in principle. However, New Zealand did send a group of non-combatant engineers to help rebuild Iraq. There were major anti-war demonstrations in the New Zealand cities Christchurch,Wellington andAuckland .Neutral, unclear
Ireland
The
Republic of Ireland is an officiallyneutral country , with a strong tradition of supporting UN institutions,peacekeeping andinternational law . Nevertheless, the use ofShannon Airport was allowed for transatlantic stopovers by theUS Army . Under domestic pressure, theTaoiseach Bertie Ahern repeatedly glossed over the particulars of the situation, while emphasising the need for a UN mandate.Despite large-scale
protest s, including many at Shannon Airport itself,opinion poll s showed that many people broadly supported official policy on the use of the Airport. While a large majority of the public did oppose the war, there was a fifty–fifty split on the use of Shannon. Keeping US investment in Ireland safe was the principal reason for allowing US stopovers. Ultimately anti-war allies were appeased by the government's not condoning the war while the situation with Shannon kept Irish-U.S. relations cordial.Republic of China (Taiwan)
Despite public protests in front of the
American Institute in Taiwan , leaders of theRepublic of China (commonly known asTaiwan ) seemed supportive of the war effort; however Taiwan did not appear in the official list of members of theCoalition of the Willing . This was because despite the government's offer of military and monetary support, Taiwan eventually pulled back from the coalition in response to vocal opposition by opposition leaders and the public at large. [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2003/03/20/198806]olomon Islands
As Croatia and Slovenia, the
Solomon Islands were claimed to be members of the coalition but wished "to disassociate itself from the report". [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3300727&thesection=news&thesubsection=world] The Solomon Islands do not have a globally or regionally deployable military.Iran
Iran's official view of US policy in Iraq since 2002 has been characterized by considerable ambivalence. On the one hand, lingering mistrust of Saddam Hussein (as a result of 1980-1988 war with Iraq) both created and reinforced an attitude that accepted the US containment of Iraq as being in Iran's interests. On the other hand, the US since 1993 had proclaimed the containment of Iran to be of equal importance to that of Iraq, and therefore, Iranian leaders felt encircled by the arrival of thousands of US troops in Iraq together with those in Afghanistan since the end of 2001. Indeed Bush's 2002 inclusion of Iran in his "axis of evil" meant a US military presence in Iraq could constitute an existential threat for the government of the Islamic Republic. As circumstances in Iraq evolved from early 2003 to mid-2005, Iranian policy makers faced the challenge of crafting strategies to take advantage of new opportunities while simultaneously remaining out of the crosshairs of a triumphal and hostile United States [Rick Fawn and Raymond Hinnebusch "The Iraq Causes and Consequences War" (USA, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers:2006, p. 173)] .
Notes
ee also
*
*Iraq disarmament crisis timeline 1990-1996 , 1997-2000, 2001-2003
*Iraq crisis, 2003
*U.S. plan to invade Iraq
*American popular opinion on invasion of Iraq
*American government position on invasion of Iraq
*Public relations preparations for 2003 invasion of Iraq
*Opposition to the Iraq War
*Protests against the Iraq War
*The UN Security Council and the Iraq war
*International community
*Peace movement External links
* [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2003/n03192003_200303194.html State Department officials about the "coalition of the willing"] (March 2003)
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,941533,00.html Blix attacks 'shaky' intelligence on weapons]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2859431.stm Cook's resignation speech]
* [http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/14/sprj.irq.un.world.reax/ More inspections enjoy broad U.N. support]
* [http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2003/01/24012003170340.asp Turkey: Arab States urging Iraq to cooperate, caution U.S. against unilateral move]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2882851.stm Arab leagues against Iraq War]
* [http://www.david-morrison.org.uk/other-documents/chirac-20030310.htm Translations of Chirac's interventions around the possible French veto]
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