The Iraqi Army Will Never Be Ready
by James Buchanan
Apparently Bush’s eternity campaign in Iraq does not go over well in Europe. An Associated Press article reports “Bulgaria and Ukraine will begin withdrawing their combined 1,250 troops by mid-December. If Australia, Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland and South Korea reduce or recall their personnel, more than half of the non-American forces in Iraq could be gone by next summer. Japan and South Korea help with reconstruction, but Britain and Australia provide substantial support forces and Italy and Poland train Iraqi troops and police. Their exodus would deal a blow to American efforts to prepare Iraqis to take over the most dangerous peacekeeping tasks and craft an eventual U.S. exit strategy… (The number of Allies remaining in Iraq) is now just under 24,000 mostly non-combat personnel from 27 countries. The coalition has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for troops to leave.” The United States has 161,000 troops in Iraq accounting for almost ninety percent of the occupation force.
It’s hardly a secret that most of our allies in Iraq are poor nations, which hope to get US aid in the future. Who knows how many billions of dollars Bush has promised them for their relatively tiny troop deployments. Mongolia has recently promised 200 troops. When you think of liberation and freedom, who doesn’t envision Mongolian soldiers? (more…)