Counting the ‘Coalition of the Willing’
This is a quick fact check on a statement President Bush made in his speech tonight. George Bush said there are 36 countries (U.S. not included) in Iraq participating in the Coalition of the Willing. Fuzzy math, indeed.
According to the Brookings Institute’s September 10, 2007 “Iraq Index,” there are 25 countries, in addition to the U.S., in the Coalition. Brookings’ source of information is the Department of State as of August 15, 2007.
The chart below is the “Top Non-US Coalition Contributors of Military Personnel in Iraq.” Only countries listed on the chart engage in combat operations or combat support operations.
Notice the Total Coalition Troops is an approximation and there are zero military personnel listed for Italy. Furthermore, the sum of the troops listed in the chart is 10,805 instead of the approximated number of 11,325. I’m guessing the approximation allows for troop variances due to KIA’s, wounded, rotation, etc.
| Coalition Country | Military Personnel in Iraq | As of (date) |
| United Kingdom | 5,500 | 19-May-07 |
| South Korea | 1,200 | 29-Jun-07 |
| Italy | 0 | 2-Dec-06 |
| Poland | 900 | 7-Jul-07 |
| Australia | 550 | 9-Jul-07 |
| Georgia | 2,000 | 9-Jul-07 |
| Romania | 600 | 22-Feb-07 |
| Denmark | 55 | 25-Jul-07 |
| Total Coalition Troops | ~11,325 | 14-Aug-07 |
Number of Total Coalition Troops is from “Iraq Weekly Status Report,†Department of State, August 15, 2007. In addition to the United States, 25 countries are contributors to Iraqi Stability Operations as of March 14, 2007: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria,Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland,Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. Fiji is participating as part of the UN mission in Iraq and Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Turkey are NATO countries supporting Iraqi stability operations but are not part of MNF-I. “Iraq Weekly Status Report,†Department of State, January 24, 2007.
Although the countries listed reflect an as of date of 3/14/07, I cannot imagine 11 countries got in instead of getting out. Actually, my recollection is some of the countries listed are no longer “willing.” For example, I believe South Korea pulled out several months ago.
Good quick digging. I imagine there will be some more scrutiny of this statement over the next few days. It’s just amazing that Bush would pretend like this is some huge multinational project and that the US isn’t shouldering the vast majority of the burden. More spin from spin central…
CKT - There were more “misleading” statements in Bush’s speech - this was one that could quickly and easily be proven wrong.