Yesterday, White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer insisted that “the President is not offering quid pro quos” to other countries for their tacit support to invade Iraq. The following analysts take issue with such claims: SARAH ANDERSON, PHYLLIS BENNIS, JOHN CAVANAGH The Institute for Policy Studies is releasing a report today — “Coalition of the Willing or Coalition of the Coerced?” — which charges that member representatives on the U.N. Security Council are being recruited through coercion, bullying, and bribery. Anderson is a fellow at IPS specializing in global economy issues, Bennis is a Mideast and U.N. expert and Cavanagh is…

KANI XULAM Director of the American Kurdish Information Network, Xulam said today: “Basically, the Kurds have been handed over to the Turkish government. It is being reported that the U.S. has approved some 80,000 Turkish troops in northern Iraq. The gains of autonomy that the Kurds have made in northern Iraq could well be lost. The Turkish military has depopulated thousands of Kurdish villages and killed tens of thousands of Kurds over the last 15 years. Northern Iraq could end up much like northern Cyprus, which Turkey has illegally occupied for decades…. Also, crucially, the government of Iraq should come…

A group of Canadian, British, American, Italian and Danish parliamentarians, scientists, academics, and religious and union leaders have informed the Pentagon that they intend to inspect the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center in Maryland this Sunday. Among the parliamentary members in the delegation are: Alan Simpson from the U.K., Libby Davies from Canada, Senator Francesco Martone and parliament member Graziella Mascia from Italy, and Pernille Rosenkrantz from Denmark. In a letter delivered to Donald Rumsfeld earlier this week, Christy Ferguson of the Canadian group Rooting Out Evil, which is organizing the inspector delegation, wrote: “As a State Party to the Chemical…

SIMONA SHARONI Sharoni is professor of peace and conflict studies and Middle East politics at Evergreen State College and executive director of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development. She said today: “The recent global protests represent an unprecedented development by the world community to confront those in the seats of power to change their policies.” More Information JOHN QUIGLEY Professor of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley is author of a number of articles about the UN Security Council, including “The ‘Privatization’ of Security Council Enforcement Action: A Threat to Multilateralism.” Quigley said today: “Apparently the U.S.…

IMAD KHADDURI Khadduri worked with the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission from 1968 until 1998. He was able to leave Iraq in late 1998 with his family. Now in Canada, he was recently interviewed by UNMOVIC. More Information DANIEL ELLSBERG Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, warns of the government using deceit to drive the nation into war. His book Secrets has recently been published. He is currently in New York City. More Information JAMES PAUL Paul is executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors the United Nations. More Information LESLIE CAGAN Tomorrow will likely be the largest day…

SANAR YURDATAPAN Yurdatapan was recently awarded the Global Rights Defenders award by Human Rights Watch. He said today: “Turkey is boiling. Ninety percent of the people are against an attack on Iraq. We are shocked at the depictions we see of the situation in the U.S. media. People here are not unhappy with NATO. No one here is with Saddam, we know the horrors he has done, but — outside of a tiny minority which is hoping to benefit — nobody wants this.” More Information WILLIAM HARTUNG Senior research fellow at the World Policy Institute, Hartung has written several articles…

GLEN RANGWALA Rangwala, a lecturer in politics at Cambridge University, exposed the British government’s plagiarism in its recent dossier which Secretary of State Colin Powell praised before the Security Council last week. Britain’s government has admitted that Rangwala is correct. He said today: “Powell’s citation of the plagiarized paper is merely a symptom of the weak case he is putting forward.” Rangwala’s reports are posted at: www.traprockpeace.org/firstresponse.html. BARBARA OLSHANSKY An attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, co-author of Against War with Iraq and author of Secret Trials and Executions, Olshansky said today: “The president talked today about making America…

“My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence… “I would call my colleagues’ attention to the fine paper that the United Kingdom distributed yesterday which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities.” — Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations Security Council, Feb. 5 GLEN RANGWALA Rangwala is a lecturer in politics at Cambridge University in Britain. He has written a report: “A First Response to Secretary Colin Powell’s Presentation Concerning Iraq” which takes issue…

PHYLLIS BENNIS A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis is author of the book Before and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis and the article “Powell’s Dubious Case for War.” Bennis said today: “Contrary to Powell’s pronouncements, Hans Blix said the UNMOVIC inspectors have seen ‘no evidence’ of mobile biological weapons labs, have ‘no persuasive indications’ of an Iraq link to al-Qaeda and no evidence of Iraq hiding and moving material used for weapons of mass destruction.” More Information More Information DAVID MacMICHAEL A former CIA analyst, MacMichael wrote a recent piece entitled “Iraq: The…

REESE ERLICH Coauthor of the new book Target Iraq, Erlich said today: “While the U.S. government and media say oil is an important factor influencing other countries, such as France and Russia, they rarely acknowledge oil as a motivating factor for U.S. policy…. If a pro-U.S. regime privatizes Iraqi oil, then U.S. companies would stand to make billions of dollars by dividing up the industry. This would give U.S. corporate interests substantially more power over the global oil flow and the global economy.” MICHAEL RENNER Currently in New York City, Renner is author of the report “Post-Saddam Iraq: Linchpin of…