NGOs Decry 'Bribes' and 'Threats' Behind U.N. Vote
'A coalition of over 150 peace groups and global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is lashing out at the U.N. Security Council for adopting a resolution that virtually legitimizes the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and endorses the foreign occupation of a U.N. member state. ''The United States was successful in bulldozing its way because it offered too many bribes and held out too many threats,'' says Rob Wheeler, a spokesman for the Uniting for Peace Coalition. The ''threats,'' he said, were against developing nations in the 15-member Security Council, and the ''bribes'' were the promises made to more powerful nations, which caved in to U.S. pressure. ''Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves. The United States will now decide how those reserves are to be distributed. And nobody wants to be cut out of the pie,'' Wheeler told IPS on Thursday.'

This dismal analysis is most likely correct however France, Germany and Russia have betrayed the public by passing the resolution too soon, not mobilising public support, and not extracting sufficient concessions. The NGOs, on the other hand, seem to have been slow to achieve a public focus on the draft resolution. Perhaps it is a matter of the mass media: it buried the story and that is almost impossible to overcome.

NGOs Decry 'Bribes' and 'Threats' Behind U.N. Vote
'A coalition of over 150 peace groups and global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is lashing out at the U.N. Security Council for adopting a resolution that virtually legitimizes the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and endorses the foreign occupation of a U.N. member state. ''The United States was successful in bulldozing its way because it offered too many bribes and held out too many threats,'' says Rob Wheeler, a spokesman for the Uniting for Peace Coalition. The ''threats,'' he said, were against developing nations in the 15-member Security Council, and the ''bribes'' were the promises made to more powerful nations, which caved in to U.S. pressure. ''Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves. The United States will now decide how those reserves are to be distributed. And nobody wants to be cut out of the pie,'' Wheeler told IPS on Thursday.'

This dismal analysis is most likely correct however France, Germany and Russia have betrayed the public by passing the resolution too soon, not mobilising public support, and not extracting sufficient concessions. The NGOs, on the other hand, seem to have been slow to achieve a public focus on the draft resolution. Perhaps it is a matter of the mass media: it buried the story and that is almost impossible to overcome.