In this post last week, I pointed out that the following claim by Mark Steyn

“Just as a matter of interest, how many countries does George W. Bush have to have on board before America ceases to be acting ‘unilaterally’? So far, there’s Australia, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Qatar, Turkey”

was false, at least as regards Australia. I meant to check on the other countries listed but have been focused on the Bali bombing and its consequences. Today I did a Google search on “x support Iraq invasion”, substituting each of the listed countries in turn. Here’s what I found:
Qatar opposes U.S. invasion of Iraq
Denver Post.com – Turks oppose U.S. invasion of Iraq
Spain Urges Easing of Sanctions Against Iraq
Italy confident of Bush consultation before any Iraq action. 24/8/2002. ABC News Online
NetworkOfMinds.com: Regional: Czech Republic and Slovakia news: 08/29/2002
“Czech Cabinet opposes military invasion of Iraq”

The Spain reference is pre-S11, and the Italy story refers to Berlusconi as an “instinctive Bush ally”, which is obviously also true of Howard and Blair, neither of whom have declared themselves “on board” for an invasion without UN authorisation. But it’s clear that Steyn has misrepresented both countries.

In summary, Steyn is wrong on every count. He is either one of the most incompetent journalists ever to be published by a major newspaper or a shameless liar. Any assertion he makes should be assumed false in the absence of independent confirmation.

Update: See two posts up for more direct refutation of Steyn’s claims. Also, be sure to check the comment thread for an erudite and entertaining discussion between Jason Soon and Jack Strocchi regarding Baathist ideology. It’s great to be able to publish this stuff, but given the flakiness of commenting systems, I endorse Jason’s suggestion that Jack should publish his own blog.