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Two US allies leaving Iraq, more may go
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-02 07:15
Struggling to shore up the coalition, Bush stopped in Mongolia on his recent
Asia trip and praised its force of about 120 soldiers in Iraq as "fearless
warriors."
At least 2,109 U.S. service personnel have died since the beginning of the
Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count. At least 200 troops from other
countries also have died, including 98 from Britain. Other tolls: Italy, 27;
Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark, El
Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia,
one each.
Underscoring mounting opposition in nearly all coalition countries, a poll
published in Japan's Asahi newspaper this week showed 69 percent of respondents
opposed extending the mission, up from 55 percent in January. No margin of error
was given.
Japan's Kyodo News service reported Wednesday that Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi's Cabinet would decide Dec. 8 to allow its 600 troops to stay for
another year, but it could decide later to withdraw troops around May.
A British drawdown would be the most dramatic.
Although Prime Minister Tony Blair's government insists there is no timetable
and British forces will leave only when Iraqi troops can take over, Defense
Secretary John Reid suggested last month that a pullout could begin "in the
course of the next year."
South Korea, the second-largest coalition partner after Britain, is expected
to withdraw about 1,000 of its 3,200 troops in the first half of 2006. The
National Assembly is likely to vote on the matter this month.
Italy's military reportedly is preparing to give parliament a timetable for a
proposed withdrawal of its 2,800 troops. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government
has said it plans to withdraw forces in groups of 300, but in accordance with
the Iraqi government and coalition allies.
Poland's former leftist government, which lost Sept. 25 elections, had
planned to withdraw its 1,400 troops in January. The new defense minister, Radek
Sikorski, visits Washington this weekend for talks on Poland's coalition plans,
and the new government is expected to decide by mid-December whether to extend
its mission beyond Dec. 31.
"Some formula of advisory-stabilizing mission could remain on a smaller
scale, of course, and our commanders are prepared for several variants," Col.
Zdzislaw Gnatowski of the Polish army's general staff told The Associated Press.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the Australian Defense Force, has
said about 450 troops in the southern province of Muthanna could leave by May.
Australia has about 900 troops and support staff across Iraq.
Many coalition members have pledged to stay in Iraq for all of 2006; at least
one, Lithuania, has committed to the end of 2007. And the coalition is still
drawing new members, most recently Bosnia, which sent 36 bomb-disposal experts
in June.
"We are getting letters of gratitude from the U.S. commanders for our
peacekeepers' excellent service," said Ilgar Verdiyev, a Defense Ministry
spokesman in Azerbaijan, which has 150 troops in Iraq and is one of the few
mostly Muslim countries to contribute.
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