March 21, 2003
by Ben Roberts

Any chance George Bush gets he describes himself, Tony Blair, and the Spanish leader as 'A Coalition of the Willing.' I beg to differ. A more appropriate designation is 'A Coalition of the Villains.' Less than forty-eight hours ago the President of the United States told his citizens, and the world, that United States forces would attack Iraq 'at a time of its choosing.' He went on to demand that the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, and his sons, leave that country in forty-eight hours. Bush statements, which boil down to a declaration of war, has effectively ushered in a new era in how nations deal with each other. It is called preemptive strike doctrine, and is based on the premise that if you suspect someone might attack you, you can attack them first. This is nothing short of absolute madness.

Such a scenario is the equivalent of a police officer accosting a citizen, suspecting that the individual is a real or imagined threat who might attack and, resorting to deadly force, kills the individual. The brutal death of Amadu Diallo in New York by police officers as he was harmlessly producing his drivers license is a sad real life example of such a situation. On the other side, an individual accosted by the police might fear the use of deadly force and attack the officer in an effort of self preservation. A sure fire prescription for chaos, lawlessness, and villainous behavior. Now we have an update to this scenario. The United States has attacked Iraq. In other words, we now have the first scenario, with the police officer attacking the citizen. Simply put, the United States and Britain have become the villains and rogues. They are violating the wishes of their respective communities, of the world community, and of the world body duly authorized to maintain law and order, and ensure peace and security.

One might take exception to the use of the term 'villains,' and are entitled to do so. But let us consider the behavior of someone who is regarded as a villain. They lie, cheat, steal, deceive and kill. Surely Blair and Bush, respectable leaders in their blue suits, are far removed from such a despicable designation. Think so? Think again. British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, blatantly deceived and lied to us in an effort to implement his war crusade against Iraq when he plagiarized a student paper, and used it almost word for word, telling us it was an up to date top secret intelligence document of Iraqi military capability. This amounts to stealing of intellectual property and deliberately deceiving the public. The perpetrator of such illegal behavior usually ends up in front of a judge, might be required to do jail time, and provide restitution to the injured party.

Now onto George Bush. Early on in his jihad against Iraq, Bush at the United Nations showed 'pictures' of Iraqi sites of weapons of mass destruction. Hans Blix, top UN investigator, countered immediately that the sites were no such thing, but rather old sites that he and his team had investigated and shut down. Do I need to explain to anyone that he is calling Bush a liar? Bush said that Iraq had been attempting to produce, and had in its possession nuclear weapons. ElBaradei, the premier investigator for the international nuclear regulatory body, the IAEA, declared that Iraq possessed no nuclear weapons, and their acquisition of aluminum tubes was not in keeping with nuclear weapons production. Is he not calling Bush a liar? Even more recently ElBaradei angrily assailed the Bush Administration, accusing them of presenting his agency with fake documents that supposedly detailed Iraqi purchases of nuclear material from Niger. If this is not lying and deception then I don't know what is. We know how the Bush Administration intercepted the Iraqi inventory document submitted to the UN, and removed 8,000 pages before anyone else got to see it. This document was the property of the UN. Is this not stealing and deception, and do we not warn our children against such undesirable and despicable behavior?

Then last night, American F-117A Stealth bombers and cruise missiles hit Iraq, attempting to kill Saddam Hussein and his top leadership. We are told that in the process there has been injuries and at least one fatality. This is attempted murder, and in the case of the fatality, murder. George Bush signed off on this action to kill Iraqis. But that is not strange. Recently, he signed off on an action that had a drone over Yemen unleash a missile that took the life of an American in that country who was guilty of no crime. No court. No innocent until proven guilty. Just the action of one man with a propensity to lie and deceive, and who has decided that he is judge and jury, with the power over life and death.

A small observation is in order here. In this so called 'Coalition of the Willing,' Ukraine has a small contingent of troops along with American and British forces at the Kuwait Iraqi border. They are supposedly primarily involved in chemical warfare. However, just three months ago The Washington Post carried an article in its Friday, December 20, 2002 issue detailing that the US was imposing sanctions on that nation for money laundering that facilitated terrorism. This week media reports revealed that they had also sold a radar system to Iraq that was capable of detecting stealth technology. In other words, the Stealth bomber. Now they are in the front lines assisting America after being paid by Iraq. How can this be? Not long ago they were despicable persona non grata slated for US sanctions. Now they are part of a supposed rock hard 'Coalition of the Willing.' My question in this instance is who bribed, threatened and blackmailed who? 'Coalition of the Willing?' What a joke. This is a villainous lot who would make Ali Baba and his band of cutthroat thieves look like a harmless Boy Scout team.

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