Coalition

Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d has been assured that all Arab and European allies in the Persian Gulf crisis will follow President Bush if he decides to launch a war against Iraq, a senior administration official said yesterday. "No one has balked," said the official, summing up the results of Baker's visits to such key nations as England, France, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey. "As we conclude this trip . . . it seems to be that the international coalition is well-prepared politically, economically and militarily for any eventuality," Baker told reporters traveling with him. Standing beside British Prime Minister John Major at this base outside London, Baker said, "The coalition hopes for peace" with Iraq, which touched off the crisis on Aug. 2 by invading Kuwait, then defying a series of U.N. resolutions demanding withdrawal.

The great coalition debate rages. On the one hand are those who argue that the key to winning this war is to establish as broad a coalition as possible. "To succeed in the present conflict, it is essential that we repeat the coalition-building of the gulf conflict," writes former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. In the other camp are those who say that we should be making whatever bilateral deals we need with the most important countries neighboring the Afghan theater of war - with Uzbekistan for air bases, with Pakistan for cutting off support to the Taliban - but that the fetish of adding partners to our coalition list will simply paralyze decision-making and prevent us from doing what we have to do: defeat the enemy.

An ad-hoc coalition opposed to the closing of the 500 block of Chestnut Street adjacent to Independence Mall will meet with Mayor Street next week in hopes of reversing his decision to close a key block in a major tourist and commercial area. The Dec. 20 decision to close the block to both cars and pedestrians was made after a report prepared for the National Park Service advised closing the street in response to security risks following the attacks on the World Trade Center. The closing - which is permanent - infuriated residents and business leaders alike.

A coalition of community and church groups organized by the American Friends Service Committee said yesterday that it supported the use of city funds for tutoring nine MOVE children. Members of the coalition also criticized City Councilman Brian J. O'Neill for urging Mayor Goode in a letter Feb. 2 to terminate the two-year-old tutoring program, which last year cost $23,000. O'Neill said children of MOVE members should not receive "special treatment" not available to other children.

The Five County Democratic Women's Coalition called for an "assault on power" at a Saturday morning workshop that urged women to run for political office. The workshop was held at the end of a tumultuous week that saw the 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the explosion of the White House sex scandal. "If you were around in the '70s, abortion and control of our bodies compelled women to get into power," said State Sen. Allyson Schwartz (D., Montgomery), one of several featured speakers.

West Chester business leaders and politicians say it's time to put past differences behind them and form a borough-wide coalition to help shape a new direction for West Chester. "We need a coalition," said Ernie Peters, who heads the West Chester Chamber of Commerce. "We need to get together and start looking at this seriously. Where is the borough going and what type of borough do you want it to be. " West Chester politicians and business leaders recently have come out in support of a coalition to help those with political and economic power in the borough work more effectively together.

Just three short weeks ago, Raymond Coleman learned more than he ever wanted to know about the proliferation of handguns on the street. Coleman, 23, was waiting for a bus at 23d and Dickinson Streets in South Philadelphia when he got annoyed at the language some youths were using in the presence of some senior citizens. He told them to tone it down. Moments later, someone approached him on a bicycle and fired a shot into his stomach. Coleman was still on crutches yesterday as he stood in the heat outside Engine Co. No. 1 at Broad and Bainbridge Streets with about 75 government officials, religious leaders and community organizers representing what they say is a new "coalition against violence.

The school strike of 1981 drew them out of their pulpits and into a coalition aimed at ending the walkout. Eight years later, the strike is an unpleasant memory, but the clergy coalition, now known as the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, has become a powerful voice in the community - a sturdy collective pulpit that allows black pastors to address a variety of social, economic and political issues. Yesterday, before a crowd including Mayor Goode that overflowed the plain white sanctuary of Zion Hill Church of God in Christ, the Black Clergy installed the Rev. Lafayette F. Gooding Jr. as its fourth president.

WASHINGTON - The American-led military coalition in Afghanistan backed off Tuesday from its claim that Taliban attacks dropped off in 2012, tacitly acknowledging a hole in its widely repeated argument that violence was easing and that the insurgency was in steep decline. In response to Associated Press inquiries about its latest statistics on security in Afghanistan, the coalition command in Kabul said it had erred in reporting a 7 percent decline in attacks. In fact, there was no decline at all, officials said.

For two years, Mayor Goode has been arguing that Philadelphia deserves a better shake from Harrisburg. And in all that time he's succeeded only in proving that being right doesn't mean anybody's going to listen to you. The city's many non-fans in Harrisburg just don't put much stock in what Mr. Goode or any other Philadelphia politician has to say on this subject. That's why it is encouraging to see somebody other than Philadelphia's elected officials taking up the case for more state aid. In this instance it's a coalition of 50 nonprofit agencies, community organizations and cultural groups calling itself the Campaign for Philadelphia.