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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jttmab who wrote (17527)	8/5/2004 9:10:31 AM
From: JakeStraw	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

Making a Dent in Liberal Disinformation: The United States Acted Unilaterally by Lester Dent Thursday, August 05, 2004 Four-point series ''Making a Dent in Liberal Disinformation'' Talking Point 2: The United States Acted ''Unilaterally'' Setting aside the blatant re-definition of ''unilateral'' from ''done or undertaken by one person or party'' to ''doing something without the approval of France, Germany, Russia, or China,'' let’s put the war in Iraq into historical context. The non-partisan GlobalSecurity.org site lists the following as current forces in Iraq or immediate surrounds: ''Coalition of the Willing'' in Iraq: Country Total United Kingdom 11,000 Italy 2,700 Poland 2,400 Ukraine 1,700 Netherlands ~1,400 Australia 850 South Korea ~600 Romania 700 Japan 1,100 Bulgaria ~485 Denmark 496 Thailand 451 El Salvador 380(?) Hungary 300 Singapore 33 Mongolia 180 Azerbaijan 151 Norway 10 Latvia 122 Portugal 128 Lithuania 105 Slovakia 105 Czech Republic 80 Albania 70 Georgia 159 New Zealand 60 Estonia 55 Kazakhstan 29 Macedonia 28 Moldova 24 Tonga ~45 TOTAL ~26,800 The same site puts U.S. forces at 140,000. Add 'em up, and you have the U.S. forces comprising 84% of the troops. Now, let’s compare this with another war, one that was approved and conducted under U.N. auspices: Korea. At the time of the cessation of hostilities, the following forces were in Korea: United States 302,483 United Kingdom 14,198 Canada 6,146 Turkey 5,453 Australia 2,282 Philippines 1,496 New Zealand 1,385 Ethiopia 1,271 Greece 1,263 Thailand 1,204 France 1,119 Columbia 1,068 Belgium 900 South Africa 826 The Netherlands 819 Luxembourg 44 korean-war.com How does this break down? The United States was providing 88% of the troops in the Korean War, with 15 other countries making up the rest (setting aside the South Koreans). In Iraq, the U.S. forces comprise 84% of the troops, along with 31 other countries. In Korea, the US suffered 95% of the fatalities in the United Nations contingent. In Iraq, the U.S. forces have suffered 94% of the fatalities. (http://icasualties.org/oif/.) The numbers indicate that, without United Nations approval, the United States has more allied countries and more troop support than we had with United Nations approval in Korea. Yet I have never read criticism of the United States for acting unilaterally in Korea. Like Iraq, Germany and the Soviet Union did not provide troops in Korea. China did provide troops… but they fought against the United Nations forces.