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[David Minton <dminton AT mindspring.com>]

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