The coalition of willing countries that supported the invasion of Iraq is crumbling. Though we may never know just how strong the once-mighty U.S.-led alliance was (since many of its members wished to remain anonymous), its demise can no longer be denied.
The list of nations friendly to America’s endeavors in Iraq is rapidly shrinking.
As it becomes obvious that sectarian violence has escalated into a full-scale civil war, many countries in the much-propagandized coalition have decided it’s time to pack up and get the hell out of Dodge.
Of the over 40 nations that actually committed forces to the coalition, only nine countries sent more than 1,000 troops. Of those, four countries (Italy, Spain, Ukraine and the Netherlands) have completely withdrawn their troops.
Two other countries plan to leave Iraq entirely.
South Korea plans to withdraw its remaining 2,300 troops by the end of 2007 and Poland, which has already evacuated 1,600, is planning to withdraw the remaining 900 by mid 2007.
Even America’s staunchest ally has announced that it’s time to cut its losses and head home. Britain, whose contribution of 7,100 troops ranked the country a distant second to the U.S. in total number of personnel donated to the coalition, has announced it plans to withdraw troops by the ‘thousands’ starting this year.
Even in America, the number of voices calling for withdrawal of America’s overstretched forces is growing. The bipartisan Iraq Study group, led by James Baker, former secretary of state under the elder Bush, unanimously agreed that America should implement a gradual pullback of all combat forces into surrounding countries or green zones within Iraq.
The group also recommended that the president announce his intent to withdraw in the near future, though no specific timetable was put forth.
Dogmatists in the White House however, steadfastly refuse to alter policy. The younger Bush, obviously irritated that American propaganda isn’t working on other nations, is determined to stay the course in Iraq, snubbing both advice and reality.
“There’s one thing I’m not going to do: I’m not going to pull the troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete,” he said.
No word on which mission our mercurial president is fixating on this week.
And so the carnage will continue as American troops and insurgents continue to spill one another’s blood in a country that possessed neither weapons of mass destruction, nor ties to Al Qaida.

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