The Magnificent 37

In case you're wondering what other nations make up the 37-nation coalition of forces in Iraq cited by President Bush in his Oval Office speech, you may need a scorecard.

Moldova is in (12 troops), but Tonga is out. Bosnia & Herzegovina contributed as many as 37 soldiers in theater, but Slovakia and Hungary have pulled out. El Salvador has stayed, but Nicaragua has gone. Australia, yes; New Zealand, not so much. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, you betcha; Denmark and Norway, gone. Mongolia is in, but Ukraine is out. It appears that Kazahkstan's 29 troops, and Armenia's 46, are hanging in there, but Thailand has left the building. For more stats, there's always the Google.

All those troops' lives are, of course, as precious to their families, nations and Gods as are the lives of Americans serving in Iraq sacred to their kin and communities and Creators. So, too, though it may be hard for some to imagine, are Iraqi lives.

But when George W. Bush tries to bolster his case for a permanent US military presence in Iraq by citing the splendid international alliance he's mustered, you have to wonder whether what he really wants us to believe --and what he actually may believe himself -- is that the contributions he's strongarmed from Fiji, Albania et al are just as impressive as the 160,000 troops that his old man wrung from the likes of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France.

Sometimes it's just too hard to suppress the suspicion that all of us are just bit players in a delusional son's deadly Oedipal psychodrama.

Follow Marty Kaplan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/martykaplan

Comments

[skepticfromschenectady]

In Bush's religion, he prays to a god named "Oil". We are "staying the course" in Iraq until Iraqis pass the National Carbon Law that gives international oil companies 80% of known and unexplored reserves. The Iraqis get 20%. That's fair,'aint it? And once that's done, or maybe sooner, the neocons can attack Iran with nuclear-laden drones. No need for more troops. Maybe Saudi Arabia, once Iraq and Iran are in their hands?

[CowboyBob]

Iran would kick our ass all over the planet, get real....

[IntegrityIntact]

it's as clear as anything our Great American Country has been pre-empted by the most dangerous, worst slime imagineable.

They've dug their sharp claws into this war machine and don't want to let go at any cost. Last night's speech was an arrant insult to the many millions of us who are left to ponder this logically. George w. Bush is a psychopath.

I no longer will refer to him as the President.

To Congress: Fight tooth, nail and claw for JUSTICE. To end this charade of madness. give us back our VOICE and our DEMOCRACY.

See you all on Sat. Sept. 15th 2007. MARCH ON WASHINGTON TO END THE WAR/ IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY

[Opus007]

See you all on Sat. Sept. 15th 2007. MARCH ON WASHINGTON TO END THE WAR/ IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY

Let's see if any of the media covers this. You might have to go to Jon Stewart or Steven Colbert for the highlights.

[Tennessean]

Report on All Countries in Coalition here:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm

hat tip to Eric, who does stellar work here:

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2007/09/13/only-21-nations-have-troops-in-iraq-%e2%80%93-not-bushs-claim-of-36/

[TheWesternBreed]

The UK used to be in with 40,000--now they're down to 5500 holed up at the Basra airport, waiting for a decent moment to split completely like the Italians, Spanish, Ukrainians, etc. did long ago.

And of course, other than for the British troops (before their rear guard holed up at the Basra airport this month and shut down all other operations), all these "Coalition of the Willing" national contributions were there with the stipulation that they only be used far from any possible danger, under agreements that explicitly prohibited their employment in or even near combat. I gather that a lot of them are up in the most Kurdish parts of Kurdistan, digging wells or painting schoolhouses. I strongly suspect that their token presence is also being financially subsidized by Uncle Sam, i.e. you and me, but I haven't seen anything about that in print.

[Podewumun]

Oh, and what else didn't show up in print (not in this country, anyway) is the fact that before he stepped down as PM, Tony Blair was busy swapping a few leftover missles, missle defense systems and other missle-aneous crap to Libya's Muammar Gaddafi (yeah, that Pan Am Flight 103 Gaddafi) in exchange for a phat $900 million BP oil and natural gas deal!
You just know that when Muammar was standing there inking that deal, he had to be thinking, "You foolish Imperialist dog, had I known you would one day be showering me with such lovely parting gifts, I would have had TWO of your planes blown out of the sky!".

[sugarmoes]

not one of bush's supporters know what "oedipal" refers to.

[CowboyBob]

ain't that the truth! WTF do they "teach" at Yale anyway???!

[FrankWillsGhost]

Oedipal. It's that thang on the floor that makes NASCARs go.

[TakeNoNeoConPrisoners]

I heard the superpower Kazahkstan with their 29 troops also surged to 30 along with our MadHatter in the WH. And in keeping with Mad King George's "return on success" theme, Kazahkstan is also reducing its force by one-half a soldier by XMAS.
Dontcha luv fuzzy math.

[ADunafraid]

I don't care about Al Quaida, Iraq, or whatever other shitbag country in the desert we are doing this for.

Wake up people despite what they are trying to tell you on CNBC and Cnn Money our currency is crashing. The dollar is at an all time low versus the Euro. It has recently lost 10% of its value against the Indian Ruppee. Food and fuel are going to continue to rise in price.

First order of businees to stabilize our economy must be to stop the war.

[kushykush]

Britain, the largest of the allies, has reduced its troops from 45,000 to about 5,000. It is expected that Britain will completely withdraw by next Spring. That, however, will not deter Mr. Bush from boasting about his "international" coalition in Iraq. It is strange that Mr. Bush's two biggest Arab-Muslim "allies," Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have refused to join this "international" coalition. Very strange that the two biggest Arab recepient of U.S. aid refuse to help their Arab neigbor, Iraq.

[wallygator]

How many permanent bases are our allies in Iraq builing? And kudos to Sgt. Pepper

[HypocrisyAlarm]

Let's take a moment to remember a bit of history. Ronald Reagan armed and supported the mujahiddin, one of his pet "freedom fighter" groups, in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union during his reign. One of those "freedom fighters" was a certain Osama bin Laden. Where did that action end up?

Now, shrublet is arming and supporting the Sunnis, who were in power in the last Iraqi regime, against al Qaida. Is this wise? Will the same thing that happened with OBL happen with the Sunnis?

Oops, silly me, wisdom and foresight are completely alien to that inimical foreign body that invaded the body politic six years ago and most other political bodies would have already long expelled with the other parasites and waste products.

[Podewumun]

That's called offal.
Pronounced in some areas of the country as awful.

[yeshe]

Please, New Zealand never was one of the 37. Our wonderful Prime Minister Helen Clark was smart enough to understand the invasion of Iraq was unlawful and though New Zealand has supported the USA in many wars previously, we stayed out of this one as a very,very tiny coalition of the unwilling. And oh boy, do we get punished for it by Georgie Porgy and his Aussie mate John Howard. But hey, guess what ? Helen was right !!!

[bikerdude]

Thank you yeshe and Helen and all of New Zealand for their service. Too bad the U.S. Congress didn't hear your voice. It is time for all of the rest of the world to let our Congress know that the jig is up and that we will be held accountable in a world court for this chaotic, self-serving war. Perhaps that will wake up the majority of our voters. This regime must be stopped immediately.

[Podewumun]

O-TAY! That does it for me! I was going to move to Canada, but with the TCC and the NAFTA Superhighway and the SPP, I think I'd rather be a Kiwi instead!
After all, wasn't New Zealand the FIRST COUNTRY on the planet to give women the vote?
Besides, they got beaches AND mountains!
YIPPEEE!!!!!

[accountability]

Podewumun.­..
I wanna go too. will they let us in? Are they Socialist?
Progressive Socialism YAY.

Why is everybody afraid of that word?

what is the problem?

[HypocrisyAlarm]

It's a real pity that Nigel Hawthorne died in 2001. We need the sequel to his "The Madness of King George".

[researcher]

we are just players in bush jr's warmongering?

these players put this sociopath into office.

he found a perfect population (us) with some fear added to wage his war.

Hitler also found some players.

We are a warmongering nation that only cares about self. how often do you hear about how many Vietnamese died in that other illegal war.

How often do we hear about Iraqis killed or displaced in this illegal war.

We have become self-centered sociopaths and imperialists then blame bush for our failures as voters.

We Americans are naive, arrogant, and apparently incompetent as voters.

And until we come to realize this we will continue to have more of these war for profits imperialistic illegal wars. Ike warned us no one listened.

[kiafaret]

So true. I blame a bigoted, ignorant, uninformed electorate for our situation. Americans are behaving as if this were a ballgame.
NUMBER 1, NUMBER 1.
This is one of the few reasons that I'm glad I'm old. The demise of my America just breaks my heart.

[Oldekirk]

One of the problems is the two party system we have. Its either republican who start a war to enrich themselves or the democrats wh fight among each other without an ironclad platform to stick to.An independant party of the working class with a socialistic platform would be the ticket.

[Danny]

Tonight, just outside the White House, before and during and after the speech, a lively group of activists made some NOISE (foghorns, cowbells, whistles, tambourines, drums). It was unbelievably LOUD! Did anyone hear this over the TV or radio commentaries?

The police were out in force, but they acted professionally, and no arrests were made.

[Oldekirk]

Bush, like Hitler started a war for personal gain of delusinal grandeur, never mind that thousands of our boys must die to accomplish this.
Bush like Hitler is a madman and should be on trial for massmurder.

[Overd0g]

Just remember that when you compare Bush to Hitler, nobody with any mental capacity continues to pay attention to you.

[Oldekirk]

Hello Overd0g, what is the difference between Hitler and Bush?
Both kill for personal gain because they see themselves as the saviour of the world.
Both are mass murderes, or are you dense enough to believe that Sadam was a threat to the USA ???
Who put Sadam there in the first place ?

[WorriedNeighbour]

Don't bet on that! How many millions have been killed, impoverished and displaced by Bush's lunacy? And he isn't done yet. Your soldiers aren't the only ones dying, you know.