John Kerry had this to say about the coalition of nations aiding in the liberation and reconstruction in Iraq:
This president has done it wrong every step of the way. He promised that he would have a real coalition. He has a fraudulent coalition.
A fradulent coalition? By what standard? Exactly what gives Sen. Kerry the right to critique America’s allies? As Darren Kaplan notes the coalition in Iraq is quite similar to the coalition assembled at Normandy Beach.
Sen. Kerry owes an apology to the governments of The United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Mongolia, Japan, and all the other governments that have sent troops to Iraq. Considering that British, Australian, and Polish troops have fought and died bravely next to our soldiers and the leaders of those countries took significant political risks to support us in the liberation of the Iraqi people, it is unacceptable and disgusting to accuse those governments of being part of a “fraudulent coalition”.
Sen. Kerry should be ashamed of his comments, and he should immediately apologize to our allies.
Perhaps a real coalition is one that extends monetary and troop support above and beyond a simple thumbs-up as they drive as fast and far as possible in the other direction.
The British are still in Iraq, as are the Poles, the Bulgarians, the Mongolians, the Australians, the Italians, the Japanese, the Spanish, etc… Plus all those nations have offered financial aid to Iraq at the Madrid conference.
Try reading a newspaper some time.
What kind of numbers are we looking at in terms of troop support from Bulgaria and Mongolia? Or even the Spanish and Italians? And if these nations are bending over backwards to the aid the American cause, why isn’t Team Bush recognizing them as much as they are the British? I’m sensing you’re overplaying the magnitude of this “coalition” to make Bush look better. Show me some numbers and prove me wrong if you’d like.
It’s not as though you could be looking these numbers up yourself…
IRAQ TROOP STRENGTH
United States: ~130,000
United Kingdom: 11,000
Poland: 2,300
Ukraine: 1,800
Spain: 1,300
Italy: 1,000
Bulgaria: 500
Hungary: 500
Romania: 150
Latvia: 150
Mongolia: ~100
Slovakia: 85
Lithuiania: 85
Kazakhstan: 25
This list is a bit old, and doesn’t include the Japanese peacekeeping force and some additional deployments since August.
Considering the size of some of these countries, giving up hundreds of troops isn’t easy. Moreover, this list doesn’t include the countries that supported the war effort nor those that gave financial help to the rebuilding of Iraq.
I am a little bit surprised to see there is actual troop support coming from countries other than the UK, Australia and Spain. Adding your numbers up, however, reveals that 87.3% of all troops in Iraq are Americans….while 94.6% of the overall troops are American or British. I would say the term fraudulent coalition applies here.
Main Entry: co·a·li·tion
Pronunciation: “kO-&-‘li-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Latin coalescere
Date: 1612
1 a : the act of coalescing : UNION b : a body formed by the coalescing of orig. distinct elements : COMBINATION
2 : a temporary alliance of distinct parties, persons, or states for joint action
– co·a·li·tion·ist /-‘li-sh(&-)nist/ noun
Seems that there’s no quota that says that a coalition has to have some number of entities to be justified or not. Except for those who have a simplistic and reactionary attitude towards anything that doesn’t match their provincial worldview.
“Plus all those nations have offered financial aid to Iraq at the Madrid conference.”
They didn’t offer us jack shit. The biggest check we got was Japan’s $1.5 Billion, and even that is pocket change compared to what we’re footing for the reconstruction. A few million here and there ain’t going to cut it. When we went to the first war in the gulf, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Europe footed the bill. Now they won’t even pick up the tip.
Don’t forget that a good deal of the money pledged at the recent meeting was in the form of loans.
because the debt of Irak is already 120Bn, and it shouldn’t go any lower for financial safety, or linked to contracts in Iraq, which is of course not bothering Dick Cheney.inc too much…
Jay: at least 170 countries of the World have disapproved of the US unilateral Bushist war for Iraqi oil & supported the French-led defence of UN legality.
The 20 remaining ones being Pacific confettis, a bunch of unashamed poodles, plus a tiny group of bribed dollar-beggers.
Most impressive indeed…
Another example of how the French manage to combine arrogance and ignorance in the same package.
The list doesn’t include the ‘Japanese Peacekeeping force’ because it doesn’t exist. Please do some research.
With the exception of Britain and America, these are mostly token contributions with a direct quid-pro-quo with America (ie yesterday’s announcement that Nicaragua would send 30 soldiers, repayment for the help the US provided to fiddle their election). The bribery was often quite overt.
The only notable exception is Poland, which made a notable contribution. Poland’s Prime Minister is quite open about them being involved because the Americans promised them access to Iraqi oil.
Face facts; this is a unilateral (well, bilateral if you count Britain) invasion opposed by most countries and the UN. Pretending otherwise just makes you look stupid.
The list doesn’t include the ‘Japanese Peacekeeping force’ because it doesn’t exist. Please do some research.
With the exception of Britain and America, these are mostly token contributions with a direct quid-pro-quo with America (ie yesterday’s announcement that Nicaragua would send 30 soldiers, repayment for the help the US provided to fiddle their election). The bribery was often quite overt.
The only notable exception is Poland, which made a notable contribution. Poland’s Prime Minister is quite open about them being involved because the Americans promised them access to Iraqi oil.
Face facts; this is a unilateral (well, bilateral if you count Britain) invasion opposed by most countries and the UN. Pretending otherwise just makes you look stupid.