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Feb. 24, 2007 The idea that there has been a coalition of the willing making common cause during the years-long siege of Iraq is hardly anything more than a stupid joke. I don't know who engineered the idea of disseminating the propaganda that there has been a genuine coalition there fighting shoulder to shoulder, motivated by a shared belief in liberty, democracy and all that, but it has George W. Bush's fingerprints all over it. He probably got the idea from his father, George H. W. Bush, who had something of the sort there during the Gulf War of 1991. Apparently, what lay behind it was a public-relations stunt aimed at making it look as if the whole world had been similarly outraged at Iraq's supposed evils, like its imaginary possession of WMD and its make-believe links to al-Qaeda. In fact, newspapers from all around the world challenged the allegations from the beginning, and the populations of many countries, like Spain, that would be pressed into sending contingents to Iraq, were wholeheartedly opposed to any involvement in the first place. Their feelings were ridden roughshod over by their leaders, who in most cases were probably obliged by debts to the US and other diplomatic considerations to make at least a nominal obeisance to Bush. How many people from all around the world knew reflexively that the war had been undertaken on behalf of Israel? They were vocal enough in all the foreign newspapers. But what really makes the so-called coaltion ludicrous was the tininess of the contingents committed by most countries. England, Italy, Poland and Korea had substantial, but by no means excessive, numbers in Iraq. And Italians have been clamoring for withdrawal ever since the Giuliana Sgrena incident. In all, over 90% of the troops in Iraq were American. It was not a coalition at all. It was an invasion made in the USA with a few stray foreign soldiers thrown in for appearance's sake. After all, the US, with a population of 300,000,000 would have had no trouble producing an extra 10,000 or 15,000 troops. There wouldn't have had to be a coalition at all. So Iceland sent 2 soldiers and Moldova sent 11. I'm impressed with their anti-Iraqi fervor! Slovenia has 4 of its brave sons over there and Estonia 35. Tonga mustered 45 and Philippines came up with 51. Wowee! Everyone knows that you don't mess with 51 Filipinos. Then there are 40 from Macedonia and 36 from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Don't forget the 46 soldiers from Armenia and the 53 from Lithuania. Costa Rica didn't send any, but Bush included Costa Rica on his list anyway. It took them a couple of years to get their name off. There are 135 soldiers from Latvia in Iraq and 160 from Mongolia, but, of course, we know what fighters Mongols are. Look at what Genghis Khan did with just 600,000 or 800,000. It looks as if the combined strength of about 40 of the 49 countries of the coalition might come up to a resounding 1000 or 2000 soldiers. Wikipedia has all the facts and figures: Number of troops and other personnel, withdrawal dates and so forth. Have a good laugh! ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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