Tonga, most other coalition countries leaving Iraq

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http://www.theolympian.com/election/presidential/story/703491.html

Published December 18, 2008

BAGHDAD — The Tongan marines left with a song, their vowel-rich war choruses echoing in the marble halls of a palace built for Saddam Hussein but now occupied by the U.S. military.

Fifty-five of them had spent the past four months guarding Camp Victory, a base that sits on a plush estate near the Baghdad airport. It was the fourth rotation in Iraq for the marines from the tiny Pacific island nation.

Their departure this week marks the exit of another member of the "coalition of the willing," the 49 nations that signed on to support the war in Iraq since 2003.

Most of the remaining 18 countries are shutting down their operations swiftly and heading home before the United Nations mandate that allows them to deploy their forces in Iraq expires Dec. 31.

The United States is holding ceremonies for each of them. It sent off the Tongans on Thursday, a contingent of Azerbaijanis on Wednesday and South Koreans on Monday.