Countries Sending Troops to Iraq On The Decline

Meanwhile, the coalition of the willing isn't so willing anymore:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of countries providing troops to serve in Iraq as part of the American-led coalition is declining, and some key U.S. allies have announced plans to keep forces there only at reduced levels.

[...]

In recent days, South Korea and Poland have announced plans to scale back their presence, while Ukraine and Bulgaria withdrew the last of their troops.

Italy has said it will reduce its 2,900 troops in Iraq by 10 percent in January and plans to pull out its troops by the end of 2006.

[...]

The Dutch contingent of 1,350 soldiers was withdrawn this year.

In the Pentagon's warped logic, this obvious lack of international support "reflects progress in Iraq and the continuing development of Iraqi forces eventually expected to provide security for the country on their own".

In its reports, the Pentagon points to the growing number of Iraqi forces, which is allegedly at 223,000 now. How many of those are fully trained and able to conduct military operations on their own is hard to determine, because Rumsfeld and Bush are determined to lie about it.

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