Two U.S. Allies Leaving Iraq, More May Go (Bulgaria & Ukraine)

[sabra]

http://www.wral.com/news/5445852/detail.html

Two U.S. Allies Leaving Iraq, More May Go

VIENNA, Austria -- Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions, increasing pressure on Washington as calls mount to bring home U.S. troops.

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 vibrations of unease from within the United States clearly have an impact on public opinion elsewhere," said Terence Taylor of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington. "Public opinion in many of these countries is heavily divided."

[Lerkfish]

1. YOU FORGOT ABOUT POLAND! oh, wait, never mind. :)

[Gregorian]

2. What kind of a message will this send to Mongolia?

M.O.N.G.O.L.I.A!!!!!!

[Redstone]

3. Oh, no, not the Bulgarians? Whatever will we do?

(I'm not insulting the Bulgarians, just taking note of how important bushyboy and them said it was to have the Grand Coalition).

So is it just us and the Brits now?

Redstone

[Barrett808]

4. They know it's over.

Does Bush?

[cliss]

5. They probably called Bush, as they were packing their

bags. They said,

"Screw you, Bush. This Oil Grab just isn't worth it. We're going to go hybrid, anyway".

Sayonara, Sucker.

[rainbow4321]

6. The "lone Dutch soldier"- did he miss the plane or piss someone off?

Same article:

In the spring, the Netherlands had 1,400 troops in Iraq. Today, there are 19, including a lone Dutch soldier in Baghdad.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Heavily divided?

Public opinionn in every country but the US and Great Britain is 80-20% against. In Great Britain it's 65-35% against. In the US, it's damn close to that.

Heavily divided my ass. Heavily weighed down to one side, more like it.

[maddezmom]

8. kick

[louis c]

9. Two US Allies Leaving Iraq, More May Go..

<Snip>

(AP) Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts........

<Snip>

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.

Comment by louis c

Could Pago Pago be far behind? So much for the coalition of the willing.

Link:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051201/D8E7MI1G5.html

[babylonsister]

10. Don't forget Mongolia! nt

[hobbit709]

11. Coalition of the willing.-HAH!!!

It was the coalition of the bribed and coerced.

[anakie]

12. Australia won't

not while jack boot Johnnie is PM. This dispite an overwhelming majority of Australians wanting our troops home from that quagmire.

[babylonsister]

14. Boy, doesn't that sound familiar! nt

[Mokito]

17. Shhhh...don't disturb Howie's focus

The ass kissing contest between him and Tony is still going hard, though Tony has a big lead.
But now that Silvio seems to have dropped out...you never know!

[Blaze Diem]

13. Bush/Cheny original "mission" must be about complete....

Wrapping things up in the oil business??

The Iraqi oil fields must be secure then. The promises Bush made to these countries for their assistance in Iraq are about to come true..with Bush talking about withdrawing US troops also..can this mean that we've finally made the Iraqi oil fields more secure? That was the original "mission" wasn't it?

OR...............Just Maybe...these countries are withdrawing their troops because Bush is about to perform another "shock 'n awe" style Bomb-a-pa-looza...therefore, its a simple case of ..
Run For Your Lives!!!!

Why is this crazy man still in our White House??

May God save the innocents of Iraq.

Ahem..we NEED intervention, please!!

[classysassy]

15. Send in the Hessians

the clowns(Bush,Chaney and Broomstick) are already here.

[Hyernel]

16. For these little countries...

There no better training ground for their militaries. To get experience working side by side with the Clinton's Military...and Bushco is paying them to be there.

It's win-win for them. Training and funding.

[Thom Little]

18. Two U.S. allies leaving Iraq, more may go

Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions, increasing pressure on Washington as calls mount to bring home U.S. troops.

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 vibrations of unease from within the United States clearly have an impact on public opinion elsewhere," said Terence Taylor of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington. "Public opinion in many of these countries is heavily divided."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_CRUMBLING_COALITION?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME

[marmar]

19. Do we still have those 1,000 monkeys...

that Morocco agreed to send to detonate bombs?

[FighttheFuture]

20. Two? We still have that many allies left in Iraq?

What a fucking disaster.

WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER.
WORST. ADMINISTRATION. EVER.
WORST. PARTY. EVER.

Save our troops, Impeach Bush!!

[Oceansaway]

21. well said !!

[LiberalEsto]

22. Will the last Coalition troops please turn out the lights

when they depart?

Just how many other nations are still represented in Iraq?

[USA_1]

23. CRUMBLING COALITION

Looks like the Repukeblicans will have no choice but to draft their own children and send them off to battle.

[secretmouse]

24. LOL..As If!

[skipos]

25. Are they leaving because the Mission is Accomplished?

[louis c]

26. Mission Accomplished?

It certainly is, if our mission was to use American blood and treasure to hand Iraq over to Iran.

[dutchdemocrat]

27. Two U.S. Allies Pulling Out of Iraq

Two U.S. Allies Pulling Out of Iraq
December 2nd, 2005 @ 3:34am
By WILLIAM J. KOLE
Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions, increasing pressure on Washington as calls mount to bring home U.S. troops.

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 vibrations of unease from within the United States clearly have an impact on public opinion elsewhere," said Terence Taylor of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington. "Public opinion in many of these countries is heavily divided."

In the months after the March 2003 invasion, the multinational force numbered about 300,000 soldiers from 38 countries _ 250,000 from the U.S. and 50,000 from other countries. The coalition has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for troops to leave.

Now the nearly 160,000-member U.S. force in Iraq is supported by just under 24,000 mostly non-combat personnel from 27 countries. Britain has the second-largest contingent with 8,000 in Iraq and 2,000 elsewhere in the Gulf region.

SNIP

http://www.620ktar.com/?nid=46&sid=111052

[flamingyouth]

28. kick

[ckramer]

29. 2 U.S. allies to leave Iraq; others may follow

Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions, increasing pressure on Washington as calls mount to bring home U.S. troops.

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.

link

[geomon666]

30. Ouch

That's 1,250 troops we'll have to replace by ourselves. Ah the high cost of invasion.

[superconnected]

31. I had no idea we had allies.

Luckily they thought better of it. Guess Bush will have to scratch them off his list.

[madmark]

32. Well it is probably fitting that mongolia is about all that bushco has

left with it in Iraq; the mongols under Hulugo in the 13th century invaded Iraq from northern Iran (after they had destoyed the mountain santuaries of the Assasins, and prior to that the Kwarzmshah in Transoxonia) and sacked Bagdad and ruled over the country for about another hundred years without insurgency under the Il Khan (a Khanate subordinate to the Great Khan in China, Kublai Khan); and then essentially came back a hundred years later under Timurlane (leading a restored form of the Chagatai Khanate based out of Samarkand) and did it again (only this time their were reports of massive skull piles as part of the sack). The Caliphate that Al Quada yearns to restore was what the mongols destroyed. The mongol conquests were so butal and total, arguably its the event that stopped and even retarded the advance of islamic/arab culture and led to it ultimately being eclipsed by the west and the inferiority complex that fuels the wahabi extremism, al quada, and obl today.