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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (27919)	1/30/2005 2:06:56 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 90947

I heard Abdul Kerristan lost in Iraq

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (27919)	1/30/2005 2:33:18 PM
From: sea_biscuit	Respond to of 90947

Coalition of the fleeing? :-) 'Coalition of the Willing' becoming more Frayed? (excerpted from Wall Street Journal). Poland, one of the larger supporters of the U.S. in Iraq, "has made a discovery in recent months" says the Journal. "Its economic, diplomatic and even security interests often seem to be more in synch with Europe than with the U.S. Numerous Polish opinion polls show a big majority of Poles want their troops out of Iraq, and also want Europe to develop its own defense policy,something Washington views as a possible threat to the U.S. led NATO." The Journal quotes Lech Walesa, the hero who orchestrated the downfall of communism in Poland, and became Poland's first post-Communist, elected president as saying, "America failed its exam as a superpower. They remain a military and economic superpower, but not morally or politically anymore. That is a tragedy for Poland since we have allied ourselves with them." The Journal article says, "Poland smarts over Washington's refusal to grant its citizens visa-free access to the U.S., a privilege enjoyed by France and 26 other countries [most of which did not support the U.S. action in Iraq]. Poland feels slighted in other ways. A Polish arms company filed a protest in 2004 when it lost a bid to help equip the Iraqi army." Lech Welesa said, "We shed our blood for them but they don't treat us very well." The following table, from information from the U.S. Central Command, shows the approximate make-up of the coalition by country. Country # of Troops in Iraq U.S.A. 150,000 United Kingdom 8,000 Italy 3,000 (Cutting back this year) Poland 2,400 (Cutting by 700 early this year) Ukraine 1,600 (Expected to partially leave this year) Spain 0 (Pulled out its 1,400 last May) Netherlands 1,350 (pulling out in March) Romania 750 Denmark 525 Bulgaria 462 Hungary 0 (Pulled out in December) Portugal 130 (May leave after its Feb. election) Lithuania 108 Slovakia 105 Latvia 100 Czech Republic 90 Estonia 35 Norway 15 (150 withdrawn last July) So, #s 3, 4 and 5 are all cutting back. #6 has pulled out already. #7 is pulling out completely in March. #11 has left and #12 may leave as well (no word on when the short-order cook from Palau will leave though! -- if he is still alive). And depending on how many British soldiers Blair has gotten killed in today's C-130 crash, UK may be out in a year or sooner (there is already a proposal by Robin Cook that has found wide support among MPs, to pull out UK troops in one year - guardian.co.uk; that will only get more momentum because of this C-130 disaster). In the meantime, we have already been "assured" that the US troop count will remain at 150K until the end of 2006 i.e. almost 4 years after the invasion. Considering that these promises come from the same "geniuses" who were contemplating managing with just 30,000 US troops within a few months after the invasion, don't be surprised if things get messier.