(Curiously, we never heard the Supreme Leader mention any of this in his
rally-the-troops-with-more-propaganda theatrics yesterday...must've slipped
his mind, hmm?)

Dec 1, 4:20 PM EST

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

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."

Although the nearly 160,000-member U.S. force in Iraq dwarfs the
second-largest contingent - Britain's 8,000 in Iraq and 2,000 elsewhere in
the Gulf region - its support has shrunk substantially.

In the months after the March 2003 invasion, the multinational force
numbered about 300,000 soldiers from 38 countries. That figure is now just
under 24,000 mostly non-combat personnel from 27 countries. The coalition
has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for
troops to leave.

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

Ukraine's remaining 876 troops in Iraq are due home by Dec. 31, fulfilling a
campaign pledge by President Viktor Yushchenko. Bulgaria is pulling out its
380 troops after Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, Defense Minister Veselin
Bliznakov said.

In his strategy for Iraq, announced Wednesday, President Bush said expanding
international support was one of his goals. He also seemed to address the
issue of more allies withdrawing.

"As our posture changes over time, so too will the posture of our coalition
partners," the document says. "We and the Iraqis must work with them to
coordinate our efforts, helping Iraq to consolidate and secure its gains on
many different fronts."

Struggling to shore up the coalition, Bush stopped in Mongolia on his recent
Asia trip and praised its force of about 120 soldiers in Iraq as "fearless
warriors."

At least 2,109 U.S. service personnel have died since the beginning of the
Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count. At least 200 troops from
other countries also have died, including 98 from Britain. Other tolls:
Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia,
three; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each;
Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, one each.

Underscoring mounting opposition in nearly all coalition countries, a poll
published in Japan's Asahi newspaper this week showed 69 percent of
respondents opposed extending the mission, up from 55 percent in January. No
margin of error was given.

Japan's Kyodo News service reported Wednesday that Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi's Cabinet would decide Dec. 8 to allow its 600 troops to stay for
another year, but it could decide later to withdraw troops around May.

A British drawdown would be the most dramatic.

Although Prime Minister Tony Blair's government insists there is no
timetable and British forces will leave only when Iraqi troops can take
over, Defense Secretary John Reid suggested last month that a pullout could
begin "in the course of the next year."

South Korea, the second-largest coalition partner after Britain, is expected
to withdraw about 1,000 of its 3,200 troops in the first half of 2006. The
National Assembly is likely to vote on the matter this month.

Italy's military reportedly is preparing to give parliament a timetable for
a proposed withdrawal of its 2,800 troops. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's
government has said it plans to withdraw forces in groups of 300, but in
accordance with the Iraqi government and coalition allies.

Poland's former leftist government, which lost Sept. 25 elections, had
planned to withdraw its 1,400 troops in January. The new defense minister,
Radek Sikorski, visits Washington this weekend for talks on Poland's
coalition plans, and the new government is expected to decide by
mid-December whether to extend its mission beyond Dec. 31.

"Some formula of advisory-stabilizing mission could remain on a smaller
scale, of course, and our commanders are prepared for several variants,"
Col. Zdzislaw Gnatowski of the Polish army's general staff told The
Associated Press.

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the Australian Defense Force, has
said about 450 troops in the southern province of Muthanna could leave by
May. Australia has about 900 troops and support staff across Iraq.

Many coalition members have pledged to stay in Iraq for all of 2006; at
least one, Lithuania, has committed to the end of 2007. And the coalition is
still drawing new members, most recently Bosnia, which sent 36 bomb-disposal
experts in June.

"We are getting letters of gratitude from the U.S. commanders for our
peacekeepers' excellent service," said Ilgar Verdiyev, a Defense Ministry
spokesman in Azerbaijan, which has 150 troops in Iraq and is one of the few
mostly Muslim countries to contribute.

---

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Ryan Lucas in
Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our
Privacy Policy.

yodumbo wrote:

[snip]

Interestingly enough, CanaDuh already cut and ran.

LMFAO at the dumbass Canucks yet again.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Yeah, it's a drag when all those olde fashioned nations want to see their
Johnny come marching home on his owne olde legs instead of a pair of fancy
new prosthetics. LMAO at the genius yankee comedian again, funny stuff!!



"dxAce" wrote in message
...


yodumbo wrote:

[snip]

Interestingly enough, CanaDuh already cut and ran.

LMFAO at the dumbass Canucks yet again.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

yodumbo wrote:

Yeah, it's a drag when all those olde fashioned nations want to see their
Johnny come marching home on his owne olde legs instead of a pair of fancy
new prosthetics. LMAO at the genius yankee comedian again, funny stuff!!

Not nearly as funny as a dumbass Canuck!

LMAO

dxAce
Michigan
USA

"yojimbo" wrote in
:

Cutting and Running, I see.

You probably heard of the Japanese that cut and ran from Islands in the
Pacific years after the end of the war. Imagine that, the war was over,
and they cut and ran. Too bad that they didn't hold out, there was always
the chance that Japan would rise from the ashes and defeat the world, yet
these cowards chose to cut and run.

Read some stories about these cowards.

http://history1900s.about.com/librar.../aa120700a.htm

http://www.wanpela.com/holdouts/history.html


The idea that countries would actually expect the war to end, what
arrogance!

Visit these pages to see the human and financial costs to U.S. Citizens
of sustaining the war.

http://nationalpriorities.org/index....per&Itemid=182

http://www.ips-dc.org/iraq/quagmire/#us

The sheer gall of countries that are not willing to dedicate untold
thousands of lives and millions/billions of dollars, what cowards!


Dr. Artuad

"dxAce" wrote in message
...


yodumbo wrote:

Yeah, it's a drag when all those olde fashioned nations want to see their
Johnny come marching home on his owne olde legs instead of a pair of
fancy
new prosthetics. LMAO at the genius yankee comedian again, funny stuff!!

Not nearly as funny as a dumbass Canuck!

Ahh. Feel. Yo. Pain.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!! LMFAO!!!!!

"€ Dr. Artaud €"

The sheer gall of countries that are not willing to dedicate untold
thousands of lives and millions/billions of dollars, what cowards!

America's Zenith occurred on Dec. 8th, 1941 when America harnessed her
resources to beat the supreme **** out of THREE countries in 44 months.

I don't see that kind of resolve within today's population of Liberal
Neo-Kommie FAGGOTS.

"SeeingEyeDog" wrote in
:

How many body parts have you sacrificed for your country? Isn't it nice
living in a country whose claim to fame is destroying other countries?

Regardless of the Liberal Neo-Kommie Faggots, the point is that they had
industries back in 1941 that enabled the U.S. to seriously contribute to
the "war effort". Next time you visit the store, notice all of the items
that are embossed "made in China". I guess you and others of your ilk
believe that the U.S. will engage in a war with China one day while
simultaneously buying their supplies from them. Nope, not likely. The
days of the U.S. "beating the ****" out of other countries has gone the
way of the Victrola.

Sure, we do well against countries in the desert with no tangible
military, and no satellites, but will we always do so well against all
countries? Not so likely.

My 2 cents worth would be to throw the illegal aliens out of the country,
bring the U.S. soldiers home, and stop financially and technologically
building what is likely to become our most formidable enemy to date, ergo
the Chinese. We don't need $19 DVDs, or $300 Computers, they can be made
in the U.S. You will pay more but the neighborhood that you are living in
is less likely to become a ghetto since people will have jobs.

Dr. Artaud





"€ Dr. Artaud €"

The sheer gall of countries that are not willing to dedicate untold
thousands of lives and millions/billions of dollars, what cowards!

America's Zenith occurred on Dec. 8th, 1941 when America harnessed her
resources to beat the supreme **** out of THREE countries in 44 months.

I don't see that kind of resolve within today's population of Liberal
Neo-Kommie FAGGOTS.

The sheer gall of countries that are not willing to dedicate untold
thousands of lives and millions/billions of dollars, what cowards!

True..

I guess there are standards among True Warriors..
Warriors Like

"The Black Knight"

Whose gallant efforts are visible in

" Monty Python & The Holy Grail .."

- The theres the rest of us..

" If at first You don't suceed,
try try try again..
and if that doesn't work ...
Give up!
- Don't make a fool of yourself"

- All is Moot anyway.. the reasons for Invadiong Iraq were all Neocon
Lies . . .

From: "SeeingEyeDog"
Organization: Eat Conscience, **** Ideology
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 18:57:43 -0600
Subject: Coalition cutting & running

Blind-eye dog wrote:

America's Zenith occurred on Dec. 8th, 1941 when America harnessed her
resources to beat the supreme **** out of THREE countries in 44 months.

I don't see that kind of resolve within today's population of Liberal
Neo-Kommie FAGGOTS.

....or in today's population of conservative neo-fascist faggots.

Greg