U.S.'s Rice says Iraq coalition remains intact

[Zeebadee]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BAT001655.htm

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday the U.S.-led coalition of international forces in Iraq was still intact after Britain announced plans to reduce its troop levels. "The coalition remains intact and in fact the British will have thousands of soldiers deployed in Iraq in the south," she said at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Is everybody in the bush administration totally nuts?? Is denial of reality actually contagious? I know that cheney still thinks we have had great successes in Iraq, but now here's another bushbot that's similarly out of touch. Britain will pull 1600 of their troops out now, leaving about 5500, with more to follow later.

"In the last three years, amid the deteriorating security situation, 17 nations, including Spain, Italy and New Zealand, have pulled their troops out Iraq. Only the United States is surging more soldiers.

Since 2003, when Bush rushed to invade Iraq with a coalition of the willing and coerced, this has been a U.S.-led war. Yes, other foreign forces, particularly the British, participated and fought valiantly. But all the talk of coalitions and multinational forces shouldn't be allowed to obscure the reality that the non-Iraqi burdens, and the casualties, are overwhelmingly and increasingly American. The British drawdown should be yet another signal to Bush that escalation is a step in the wrong direction." Burdens of war - Opinion - USATODAY.com

[RickSp]

The Brits are bailing and so is Denmark. Howard is under pressure to cut Australian troops even further, (there are only 1,300 Aussies left in Iraq). More than half of the "coalition" has already packed its bags and left including Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, and Japan. It is looking more like a multinational farce at this point.

Multinational force in Iraq

But hey, we still have 29 soldiers from Kazakhstan! Wonder if any are named Borat?

Denmark to Withdraw From Iraq

But leave it to Condi to deny the obvious. She is not an effective liar but she is reliable.

[RickSp]

A better summary of the multinational farce in Iraq.

Status of Coalition Forces in Iraq

I was wrong in my previous post. Australia only has 550 troops in Iraq. Denmark, Lithuania and South Korea all plan to withdraw within the year.

With the withdrawal of Britain and South Korea there will be less than 5,000 non-US "coalition" forces in Iraq, at least half of which are non-combat personnel.