ABSTRACT

In the post-World War II era, one of the main components of American foreign policy has been multilateralism. However, as noted, US multilateralism has often been selective and issue-oriented. The US has used formal and informal multilateral configurations in order to pursue its specific national interests. The preponderance of American military power has significantly weakened the need for troops and other allied assets to bolster US capabilities during missions, and negative experiences during a variety of coalition actions in the 1990s have reinforced preferences among American defense planners which rely on US assets. This chapter traces the coalition efforts by the US and the parallel efforts by the main anti-war states, Germany and France, to prevent the development of any multilateral grouping more substantial than a limited coalition of the willing. The NATO decision was particularly important for the Bush administration. It needed Turkish assent to launch its planned second front against Iraq from the North.