 | Multinational force in Iraq: Encyclopedia II - Multinational force in Iraq - The Coalition of the Willing phrase
Multinational force in Iraq - The Coalition of the Willing phrase
Multinational force in Iraq - The origin of the phrase
The precise origins of the phrase are unknown, but it has been used since at least the late 1980s to refer to groups of nations acting collectively without regard to United Nations opinion. Specific uses of the phrase in the context of disarming Iraq began appearing in mid 2001.
The first American President known to have publicly mentioned acting with a "Coalition of the Willing" in place of a UN Mandate was Bill Clinton. The phrase was later used by George W. Bush to refer both to actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, although usage primarily focused on the latter.
Multinational force in Iraq - Criticism of and humorous comment on the phrase
Iraq War critics such as John Pilger have pointed out that 90% of the military is from the US and Britain and is therefore accurately described as a predominantly Anglo-American force rather than as a coalition.
In a 2004 presidential debate, a democratic presidential candidate John Kerry questioned the size of the coalition, saying that Bush portrayed the effort as a widespread international consensus when actually only two major allies of the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, had comparatively substantial numbers of soldiers on the ground during the initial invasion. President Bush responded by saying "Well, actually, he forgot Poland". The phrase You forgot Poland subsequently became a humorous shorthand for the perception that most members of the coalition were not contributing much to the war effort compared to the main three allies. The majority of the population in most countries involved did not support the endeavour or their nation's participation.[3] Many of the nations in the coalition formed for the 2003 invasion of Iraq stood to receive substantial aid packages and trade benefits from the United States in return for their support. It is for this reason that some editorial cartoons and political commentators have mockingly referred to them as the "coalition of the billing." Another term, used by those who believe coalition nations lied about aspects of the war, is "coalition of the shilling." Due to the high percentage of states that were small, impoverished nations in need of United States financial aid, a New York Times editorial referred to it as the "Coalition Of Welfare States."
U.S. Senator Robert Byrd, ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has referred to the coalition formed for the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the acronym COW, expressing his concern that the United States was being "milked" as a "cash cow." A Canadian MP Carolyn Parrish referred to the "Coalition of the Willing" as the "Coalition of the Idiots". She was reprimanded for these comments, and was eventually removed from the Liberal Party caucus.
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Coalition of the Willing phrase", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
