On CNN yesterday (may have been Saturday) I heard the Dutch ambassador to the US say that the Netherlands was the first country to recognize the US after the Declaration of Independence in 1776. I hadn't heard that before. {This page says that Ragusa was the first country to recognize the US, but whatever.}
The Ambassador calmly stated that the Netherlands was neither bribed nor coerced into joining the "coalition of the willing" in Iraq. John Kerry apparently referred to the coalition partners as 'coerced' and 'bribed' back in March.
The President used this against Kerry in his speech last Thursday, but some Koreans are miffed that the President didn't explicitly mention S. Korea as a member of the coalition.
