Never Again: The Bizarro "Coalition"

Quiz time. Which countries are providing military support in Iraq?

Newsweek posts the following (misleading) figures, courtesy of Reuters. It would be funny to see how many Americans could even place these nations on a map, let alone spell their names correctly or name their capital cities.

United States 138,000
Britain 8,530
Albania 70
Australia 850
Azerbaijan 150
Bulgaria 455
Czech Rep. 92
Denmark 510
Dominican Rep. 300
El Salvador 360
Estonia 55
Georgia 150
Hungary 300
Italy 2,700
Japan 1,000
Kazakhstan 25
Latvia 120
Lithuania 105
Macedonia 28
Moldova 25
Mongolia 180
Netherlands 1,263
New Zealand 60
Nicaragua 115
Norway 150
Poland 2,400
Portugal 120
Romania 730
Singapore 200
Slovakia 105
South Korea 675 (3,000 on way)
Thailand 460
Tonga 44
Ukraine 1,700

These figures are, in fact, totally "cooked" (more lazy journalism, presenting them as facts). I live in Australia and our own (lying) government tells us that our troops are only there to protect Australian diplomats. If it's true, I would hardly call that "military support" for the US troops. The only thing we are supporting is our self-interest. New Zealand's troops have already come home, so I have no idea why they are still on the list (more lazy journalism). And I am sure that if you look at what Norway's troops are doing, it would be nothing like "military support" either. Probably keeping the beers cold in the Green Zone.

Consider the Japanese contingent's contribution:

By law, they cannot instigate combat, and have not fired a single shot in anger. In fact, troops from the Netherlands' 500-strong contingent are deployed around the SDF compound in southern Iraq to provide an extra layer of security for the Japanese.

In all honesty, there are really only four participants, and (aside from Spain) that's all there ever was: Bush's USA, Tony Blair's Britain, Silvio Berlusconi's Italy and poor, pathetic Poland. Berlusconi is a known Fascist who sought the Presidency as a way to stay out of jail. Blair is a psychologist's dream, an egomaniac religious pratt who may have been blackmailed by the CIA. And Poland... well, who cares about Poland?

As one senior British diplomat put it: "Never again."

"Even if John Kerry defeats Bush, any British government will find it difficult, if not impossible, to muster popular support for a future American-led military intervention."

If you really want to look into this, it would be interesting to know exactly what bribes the US government paid to all these countries in order to win their allegiance. If you have any good links, send me an email.

Newsweek looks at the end of the most pathetic international coalition ever formed.