Politics: Coalition Of The

Mostly unwilling, at this point, apparently. Oh, I know, Iceland withdrew their sole troop a while ago. However, when Donny Rummy was still in charge, he claimed there were 34 countries in the "Coalition of the Willing," including the U.S., which supplied 92 per cent of the troops there. Countries included:

Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, the Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Dammit, they left out Iceland. And Hungary, apparently. Although there's some disagreement as to how effective the Hungarian troops were, given that the troop contribution was made through NATO/UNAMI, and the Hungarian government announced complete withdrawal at the end of 2004. We know Iceland had a troop there, because they withdrew him or her this year with much fanfare (shockingly, not covered by our media). Slovenia and Turkey apparently contributed to "training," so they don't appear on the list.

Click the link to see who's left.

Still doesn't add up to 34, so we can only assume that Rummy was lying, as usual. Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski was behind Teh Chimperor all the way, on this issue. Although Poland did withdraw some troops at one point, Kaczynski had promised a troop increase. Unfortunately, the recent elections in Poland have made it impossible for Kaczynski to keep his promise. The Press Association states:

Poland's business-friendly and pro-EU Civic Platform party has ousted prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski's conservatives in parliamentary elections, early results said.

It is the strongest showing for any single party since the eastern European country overthrew Communism in 1989.

Voters across the nation of 38 million turned out in record numbers to deal a bruising verdict on Kaczynski's two-year crusade to belatedly purge former Communists and fight for the country's interests in the EU with combative methods that have left the nation marginalised in Europe.

Hmmm, looks like Boy George's reverse Midas touch took effect again - Blair, out, Aznar, out, now Kaczynski. Howard next, perhaps?

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