WP, pg1: U.S. Works to Sustain Iraq Coalition (four gone, four going)

[DeepModem Mom]

U.S. Works to Sustain Iraq Coalition
4 Nations Have Left, 4 More Are Getting Ready to Leave International Force
By Robin Wright and Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 15, 2004; Page A01


The Bush administration faces growing challenges in holding together the 32-nation coalition deployed in Iraq, with four countries already gone, another four due to leave by September and others now making known their intention to wind down or depart before the political transition is complete next year, according to officials from 28 participating countries.

The drama over the Filipino hostage in Iraq, which led the Philippines government to say this week that it will pull out before its August mandate expires, is only the latest problem -- and one of the smaller issues -- in U.S. efforts to sustain the 22,000-strong force that, with 140,000 U.S. troops, forms the multinational force trying to stabilize postwar Iraq....

***

Any dwindling of the coalition -- by choice or after hostage seizures and other violence -- further complicates the already difficult job of sustaining the multinational force, which is critical to Washington's assertion that it has international support for the Iraq mission. It could also encourage further abductions or attacks to heighten the psychological pressure and undermine the U.S.-led mission, coalition diplomats say....

***

Support is also tenuous in nations Washington considers to be key players. The vote this week in Italy's House of Deputies to extend its deployment was 257 to 207, a reflection of the almost even public split, an Italian envoy said. Playing to strong public antiwar sentiment, Australia's opposition pledged to withdraw troops by Christmas if elected, while revelations about the Abu Ghraib prison abuse led Hungary's opposition to call for a withdrawal despite originally supporting the deployment.

Hostage seizures of nationals from Japan, South Korea, Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, the Philippines and the United States have heightened public and political pressure, with several countries expecting debates to intensify this fall....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50417-2004Jul14.html

[Racenut20]

1. Coalition of the Coerced

[Disturbed]

2. An Illegal Invasion and Occupation

Leaders nations in which most of the citizens were against this invasion in the 1st place are expected to keep troops there?

The US and UK supposedly liberated Iraq. Why maintain this Occupation?

[leftchick]

3. even when it is just the US and UK left...

chimpy* will still insist it is a "multinational coalition" because the media will never challenge the lies he spews daily.

[johnfunk]

4. Iraq qoalition qollapsing...

... and it wasn't much of a qoalition in the first place...

[Aidoneus]

5. would it kill them to speak honestly about even obscured points?

"...the multinational force trying to stabilize postwar Iraq..."

:eyes:

[Rose Siding]

6. They have a chart! A CHART!

Woo Hoo :bounce:

A special Everything's Under Control Chart! Fear not; It's a *COLOR CODED* chart!

To track commitments, the Bush administration keeps a color-coded chart of coalition members: red for countries withdrawing, yellow for nations considering a pullout and green for countries staying.

[Lugnut]

7. Hmmmm.....

Tom Ridge's input perhaps? How juvenile.