All right, we’ve got the official accounting about the “36 nations” cited last night by President Bush “who have troops on the ground in Iraq.” And it still doesn’t add up.
According to a National Security Council official, our tally of 34 was slightly off. We had been including the U.S. as a contributor to MNF-I, and we had forgotten the island nation of Tonga. Additionally, the White House relied on two other nations contributing forces to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq — Canada and New Zealand — in addition to the Figians. So there you have it: 26 in MNF-I; seven in the Nato non-combat force; and three guarding UNAMI. Thirty-six!
Only… not. First, Canada withdrew its single soldier to UNAMI in June. (New Zealand does contribute its own soldier — that’s soldier, singular — to UNAMI, along with, one hopes, bootleg DVDs of Flight of the Conchords.) Second, the aforementioned CRS report (pdf) notes that Tonga has withdrawn its force from Iraq; and, accordingly, MNF-I no longer includes Tonga on its list of coalition members. Additionally, globalsecurity.org isn’t sure whether Hungary has anyone in Iraq as part of the Nato force. (No one’s answering the phones at the Hungarian embassy in Washington, either.) And, lest we forget, Iceland is sending its press aide — apparently not really a soldier — home from Baghdad on October 1.
But assume the White House is correct on Hungary. And also concede that Iceland isn’t out yet. Still, by the accounting of the White House, at least two of the nations the president cited last night aren’t in Iraq in any capacity anymore.
For the record, here’s the White House list of how it counts the nations “in” Iraq:
Countries with troops on ground in Iraq
1. Albania
2. Armenia
3. Austrailia
4. Azerbaijan
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina
6. Bulgaria
7. Czech Republic
8. Denmark
9. El Salvador
10. Estonia
11. Georgia
12. Japan
13. Kazakhstan
14. South Korea
15. Latvia
16. Lithuania
17. Macedonia
18. Moldova
19. Mongolia
20. Poland
21. Romania
22. Singapore
23. Slovakia
24. Ukraine
25. United Kingdom
26. TongaUnited Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (Not listed are countries that are providing forces in other categories)
1. Canada
2. Fiji
3. New ZealandNATO Training NTM-I
1. Hungary
2. Iceland
3. Italy
4. Netherlands
5. Portugal
6. Slovenia
7. Turkey