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  • From: David Minton <dminton AT mindspring.com>
  • To: InterNetWorkers <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] immediate reactions
  • Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 13:28:52 -0400

On 10/2/04 10:04 AM, "Jim Allman" <jim AT ibang.com> wrote:

> On Oct 1, 2004, at 5:46 PM, David Minton wrote:
>> From these numbers, looks like the US is doing it alone, despite Bush's
>> claims to the contrary.
>
> Still, it's very un-cool to dismiss their help. I'll wager that a small
> country with 100 people in Iraq is watching the situation (and our
> reactions to it) closely.
>
> Just showing up is an act of courage (physical and political), and I
> hope Kerry can provide the "coalition reality-check" without dissing
> them.

That is an interesting point. I made a table to put things in perspective,
based on the size of the standing military for each nation from this site:

http://www.nationmaster.com

Nation Total Troops in Iraq Coalition Rank
-------------------------------------------------------
1 China 2,810,000 0
2 Russia 1,520,000 0
3 United States 1,366,000 170,000 1
4 India 1,303,000 0
5 Korea, South 683,000 2,800 3
6 Pakistan 612,000 0
7 Turkey 610,000 0
8 Iran 513,000 0
9 Vietnam 484,000 0
10 Egypt 448,000 0
11 Ethiopia 352,000 0
12 Burma 344,000 0
13 Syria 316,000 0
14 Ukraine 304,000 1,576 6
15 Thailand 301,000 451 11
16 Indonesia 297,000 0
17 France 294,000 0
18 Brazil 288,000 0
19 Italy 251,000 2,700 4
20 Japan 237,000 750 7
21 Germany 221,000 0
22 Poland 217,000 2,400 5
23 United Kingdom 212,000 12,000 2
24 Romania 207,000 700 8
25 Saudi Arabia 202,000 0
...
45 Bulgaria 80,000 485 10
92 Denmark 22,000 496 9

After looking at these numbers, someone please convince me that Bush
assembled a true coalition. Looks more like the US, with help from UK. All
of the other contributions are merely window dressing.

Notice the major players not part of the coalition? Notice the percentage of
troops a number of the coalition members sent?

Or, compare the troops in the Iraqi Theater of Operations:

United States: 170,000 (approx)


United Kingdom: 12,000 (approx)
Remaining 36 members: 16,630 (approx)
------
28,630

Size of NYPD 39,110
<http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/misc/pdfaq2.html#41>

Bush could not get all of the nations of the world to contribute more troops
to keep the peace in Iraq than the size of the New York City Police
Department.

David











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