DougR, every country that is involved in the coalition has concerns that they share with us, and also concerns that are not the same as ours. Some nations may even have concerns that are unique to those nations.

The coalition can be strong if the needs and concerns of all of the members carry equal weight. But it will be weak if some nations' concerns carry more weight than others.

As far as the way in which the coalition is being shepherded, I certainly don't have all of the details, and I doubt that you do either. However, I have heard leaders of some nations express concerns about the consequences of some actions that have, at various points in the past, been brought up as possibilities. If we act without taking these concerns into consideration, we could force countries who would like to help us into the difficult position of having to deny us help.

And in a worst case scenario, a country could be so severely destabilized that a government that is friendly to us now could be replaced by one that is not.

It is time for us to fit into the word picture as the equal of all other nations, not as their superior officer. The old paradigm of the US being superior to the rest of the world went the way of the dinosaurs on 11 Sept.