As U.S. steps up presence in Iraq, its coalition partners scale back or have left

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-01-12-coalition-partners_x.htm

VIENNA (AP) — The Italians have left, and the Slovaks are about to. Britons want to start getting out, and so do Danes and South Koreans.
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President Bush's plans to send another 21,500 troops into Iraq have not inspired America's coalition partners to follow suit. Washington's top war partners — London and Seoul — are looking to draw down their forces, and they are not alone.

Mikulas Krkolak, a bartender in Bratislava — where the Slovak government is bringing its 103 soldiers home in a few weeks — summed up the souring mood in many coalition countries: "It's an American war, and we have nothing to do with it."

U.S. forces in Iraq, which now number 132,000 and would swell to 153,500 under Bush's strategy, are supported by 15,300 mostly non-combat troops from 25 nations.

In the months after the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the multinational force peaked at about 300,000 soldiers from 38 countries — 250,000 from the United States, about 40,000 from Britain, and the rest ranging from 2,000 Australians to 70 Albanians.

[Theres-a]

1. Any word from Palau?

[Bonhomme Richard]

2. Nobody wants to hang with the bully that...............

has lost all control of himself.

[TexasLawyer]

3. The US is virtually alone now in Iraq.

Our biggest partner in this disaster, Britain, started out with 40,000 troops.

"Now Britain, America's chief ally, hopes to cut its 7,000-member force in the southern city of Basra by several thousand in the first half of the year. Prime Minister Tony Blair is preparing to announce a withdrawal of about 2,600 soldiers, the Financial Times reported yesterday."

[spanone]

4. Most World Leaders Are Realists If Nothing Else.