The Coalition: Holding Allies Hostage; If the United States can't provide better security, its friends can hardly be blamed for not wanting to stick it out as targets.(Cover Story)

Byline: Melinda Liu and William Dobson, With Michal Karnowski in New York, George Wehrfritz and B. J. Lee in Seoul, Kay Itoi and Hideko Takayama in Tokyo and Joanna Kowalska in Warsaw

If the violence sweeping across Iraq continues, America's few allies in the country have reason to worry. Italian, Salvadorean, Polish and Bulgarian troops have already come under attack by Shiite militias. More frighteningly, several foreign civilians have been taken hostage by insurgents: three Japanese, whose captors initially vowed to "burn them alive" if Tokyo did not withdraw its 550 troops from Iraq, as well as four Italians, a British contractor, a Canadian relief worker and two Palestinians with Israeli identity papers. By week's end Arab media reported the Japanese would soon be released, but by that time several more foreign contractors had gone missing.

The insurgents seem inspired by the reaction to the kidnappings--including large protests in Tokyo--to test the resolve of Coalition governments. On April 10 one previously unheard-of group even claimed to have taken hostage 30 foreigners of various nationalities. That threat appeared to be bogus, but there is no doubt that Coalition troops and civilians are now among the most vulnerable targets in Iraq. A true wave of kidnappings could well tip the scales for many governments. "If the situation becomes worse," says Koichi Kato, a Liberal Democratic Party legislator, "the Japanese people will begin to question why Japan had to be involved in America's war."

Other Asian allies already have. Kazakh troops have announced that they will return home as scheduled in May--and won't be sending reinforcements. Thailand's Defense Ministry says it may be pulling up stakes ahead of schedule. And Singapore ended its military deployment last week, with no plans to re-enlist.

The frustration even in resolute foreign capitals is mounting as people learn that membership has few privileges. Many Poles, for example, believe their help hasn't led to any tangible benefits for Poland. According to Roman Giertych, leader of the nationalist League of Polish Families Party, partnership with America has amounted to "no economic advantages, all the contracts [for work in Iraq] lost and visa procedures made more stringent so that on the U.S. ...