Random Michael Moore Deceits [#53]

coalition of the willing

He next proceeds to make fun of the nations working with the United States in Iraq and in the larger war on terror. He shows clips of Powell and Bush making reference to the "coalition of the willing" and then tells us that this coalition consists of nations which he does not think worthy of being taken seriously. A voiceover says, "The Coalition of the Willing roll call: The Republic of Palau. The Republic of Costa Rica. The Republic of Iceland." Then, showing us clips of people dancing and pounding rocks and riding donkeys, Moore says, "Of course none of these countries has an army or, for that matter, weapons." He has indeed picked those three out of the 30-nation coalition which do not have regular military forces, and whose support for the coalition consisted of civilian medical and humanitarian assistance. Such assistance is hardly irrelevant, and these countries should not simply be treated as laughingstocks.

But the "roll call" continues, naming Romania and showing a picture of a vampire. Morocco is mentioned next (although Morocco is actually not on the U.S. list of coalition members), and Moore says, "Morocco wasn't officially a member of the coalition, but according to one report, they did offer to send 2,000 monkeys to help detonate landmines." It is true that there was a report of a group in Morocco accusing the government of having made such an offer (http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030324-064259-1443r), but it isn't clear that such an offer was ever really made.

Moore next mentions the Netherlands, and shows an image of a drug user, rather than an image of the 1,100 brave Dutch soldiers sent to serve in Iraq (http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:2-aov4yi54YJ:www.government.nl/actueel/dossieroverzicht/42_18993.jsp+&hl=en). Next he notes that Afghanistan is playing a role in Iraq through its new government, but he asserts that Afghanistan couldn't play a role since it has no army (like the nations mentioned above, it is participating in a small and non-military way). Moore of course leaves out the major contributors to the coalition, including England, Italy, Australia, Poland, and originally also Spain-who together have contributed tens of thousands of soldiers to the effort to liberate Iraq and establish a secure democracy there. When asked about this in a press interview, Moore said only that his film was not supposed to tell the full truth:

Q: You mock the "coalition of the willing" by only showing the tiny countries that have voiced support. But you leave out England, Spain, Italy and Poland. Why?

Moore: This film exists as a counterbalance to what you see on cable news about the coalition. I'm trying to counter the Orwellian nature of the Big Lie, as if when you hear that term, the "coalition," that the whole world is behind us. (http://moorelies.com/news/specials/latimes_moore.cfm)

So his defense is that obscuring the truth is the appropriate way to tell the truth. Orwellian indeed. Incidentally, the following 31 countries currently (as of October 5, 2004) have troops in the American-led coalition in Iraq (and several other nations, including those Moore mentioned, have non-military civilian workers participating in the coalition and aiding the new Iraqi government): Britain, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Netherlands, Romania, South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Bulgaria, Thailand, El Salvador, Hungary, Australia, Georgia, Norway, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Portugal, Latvia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia, Albania, New Zealand, Estonia, Tonga, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, and Moldova (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm).

Moore simply asserts there was no real coalition, and then blames the major media for not telling us so. He proceeds into a bizarre accusation that the networks were somehow in favor of the war, and hyped it up for the American people. He shows clips of reporters and anchors saying things like, "The rallying around the president, around the flag, and around the troops clearly has begun," and "The pictures you're seeing are absolutely phenomenal" none of which has anything to do with the coalition and none of which amount to advocacy for the war. He shows Dan Rather "admitting" that as an American he wants his country to win when it is at war, and shows Peter Jennings announcing that "Iraqi opposition has faded in the face of American power" (which was of course true). But anyone watching the news at the time of the Iraq invasion would find simply ridiculous the notion that reporters were cheerleaders for the war (http://www.mediaresearch.org/projects/gulfwar/welcome.asp)."

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