US Troops Now A 'Coalition Of One' In Iraq [But Didn't Obama Promise That More Would Join?]

The war in Iraq was truly an American-only effort Saturday after Britain and Australia, the last of its international partners, pulled out.

Little attention was paid in Iraq to what effectively ended the so-called coalition of the willing, with the U.S. — as the leader of Multi-National Force, Iraq — letting the withdrawals pass without any public demonstration.

The quiet end of the coalition was a departure from its creation, which saw then-U.S. President George W. Bush court countries for support before and after the March 2003 invasion.

"We're grateful to those partners who contributed in the past and we look forward to working with them in the future," military spokesman Army Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

At its height, the coalition numbered about 300,000 soldiers from 38 countries_ 250,000 from the United States, about 40,000 from Britain, and the rest ranging from 2,000 Australians to 70 Albanians. But most of the United States' traditional Europe

Obama thought his apology tour will help other nations join the US and send more troops. What an ass! This election proved one thing. We voted these barbarians into the city to ransack our values and our heritage and our super-power status. In less than six-months we are the laughingstock of the world beholden to China, and pleading with India. We are fast on the path to becoming a Papua New Guinea

One of the lies propagated about this war was that it was some “unilateral” effort and that no one is in Iraq fighting with us. Far from the truth, while there I saw Spaniards (Who did leave after the Madrid bombing shortly after wars begin), Poles, Brits, Aussies, and many others....... meanwhile so called experts on TV, opposition politicians at the time etc. were talking about how this war effort is “going it alone” or better yet, as the Germans and French did, claiming that it was a coalition of “trash nations” pointing out that El Salvador also sent troops. Ironically the troops from these so called “trash nations” are generally more aggressive, better trained and willing to fight than those doing the name calling and considering themselves better while hiding out in Afghanistan or elsewhere, staying as far away as possible from wherever a shot may be heard.

In all over the span of the war, 39 nations were represented, a larger coalition than the Allied forces of WWII. The list of coalition partners providing troops on the ground included:

1 Australia
2 United Kingdom
3 Romania
4 El Salvador
5 Ukraine
6 Denmark
7 Czech Republic
8 South Korea
9 Japan
10 Tonga
11 Azerbaijan
12 Singapore
13 Bosnia and Herzegovina
14 Macedonia
15 Latvia
16 Poland
17 Lithuania
18 Italy
19 Norway
20 Hungary
21 Netherlands
22 Portugal
23 New Zealand
24 Thailand
25 Philippines
26 Honduras
27 Dominican Republic
28 Spain
29 Nicaragua
30 Iceland
31 Kazakhstan
32 Armenia
33 Mongolia
34 Georgia
35 Slovakia
36 Estonia
37 Bulgaria
38 Moldova
39 Albania

It is also not without reason that shortly after Obama was elected (the great multilateralist who will bring others into Iraq to help us), that near 2/3rds of the remaining coalition partners packed up and left within months. His election was symbolic in more than one way.

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