The United States fired a warning shot Tuesday across the bows of France, the leading critic of its Iraq policy, saying it would view any French veto of a new U.N. resolution authorizing force as "very unfriendly." [Tom Heneghan and Nadim Ladki, "US Warns France in Struggle Over Iraq", Reuters, Feb 25 2003]
Nice. A major first world country that has actually seen full scale occupation and war up close in the last 60 years actually doesn't want to go to war, so now we're threatening them?
There's more:
Senior U.S. officials have been quietly dispatched in recent days to the capitals of key Security Council countries where they are warning leaders to vote with the United States on Iraq or risk "paying a heavy price.""Hey kids, we've got money and power, wanna help us fight?"
For some of the countries, such as Angola, Guinea and Cameroon - poor African nations whose concerns drew little attention before they landed seats on the council - there is the possibility that supporting Washington's drive for a new U.N. resolution authorizing war may reap benefits down the line.[Dafna Linzer, "U.S. officials using back channels to push for U.N. votes", Associated Press 24 Feb 2003 (viewed 25 Feb 2003)]
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