One last reaction in regards to the speech last night. Towards the end he stated:
We thank the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq and the many others who are helping that young democracy.
Look, there may be representatives from 36 countries in Iraq, but the only major fighting force is the US. The British have a sizable, yet radically smaller force that is not currently involved in much fighting and in the process of withdrawal. To even suggest that there are 36 active military operations fighting side-by-side with us in a meaningful way daily is either an attempt to deceive the population or a sign of delusion. Neither is an especially happy alternative when we are talking about a President of the the United States addressing its citizens on so important a policy.
In regards to the 36 nations assertion, the AP notes that, for example,
Albania has 120 soldiers there and Bulgaria has 150 non-combat troops in Iraq.
The US has 168,000, however. The British, I believe (again, the second largest contingent) has roughly 5,000 and goes down radically from there.
Even if each of the 34 other nations (sans the US and the UK) had 1,000 troops each that would only be 34,000 compared to our 168,000. However, the numbers are probably more in the triple digits per country. As such, we aren’t looking at a lot of troops here and none (or very few, at best) are involved in day-to-day fighting and security.
Update Slate’s Fred Kaplan notes:
Oddly, he thanked “the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq.” At the peak of the “coalition,” back in the fall of 2004, only 31 countries besides the United States had any troops in Iraq. They amounted to 24,000—fewer than one-fifth of America’s numbers—and one-third of those were contributed by Britain. Now, according to the most recent official report (dated Aug. 30, 2007), just 25 countries have troops there; they number fewer than 12,000 (an average of fewer than 500 per nation), and more and more, including Britain, are leaving every month.
It would be nice to at have the basic facts in such a speech to be accurate…
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September 14th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Not to put too fine a point on it, but that’s a rather petty point to critique… particularly in a country where a bill that passes the House 230-210 is routinely called “bipartisan” when only 3-4 people crossed the aisle to the winning side. And it would be downright rude not to acknowledge the other countries that have contributed troops.
I’ll grant that a subordinate clause about the US comprising the bulk of the forces would be clearer to the casual viewer (who probably tuned out about the time he/she realized they weren’t going to see Pam and Jim on The Office), but anyone not living under a rock knows that the US is carrying most of the load in troop numbers.
September 14th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Correction required; there are 25 countries currently providing military forces in Iraq (7 percent of the total).
September 14th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Chris,
I take the general point about language, but I really don’t consider this a petty point insofar as it makes it sound like there is a broad and deep international support for the action, when there simply isn’t.
And, to me, it is just another example of the President’s inability, or unwillingness, to directly and forthrightly deal with the realities on the ground. It is our fight, and essentially our fight alone and tossing out even the suggestion that we have substantial global support is simply untrue.
I have run out of patience some time ago with this sort of thing.
September 14th, 2007 at 9:49 am
I believe there are 36 or 37 nations contributing troops to the conflict in Afghanistan.
At the beginning of the Iraq war there were 31 nations contributing, though some were as small as a contribution of a few mechanics. Since then, there have been a number of countries that have withdrawn their support.
Bush could easily have acknowledged the support of the coalition troops without this particular comment which lends itself to ridicule.
September 14th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Dr. Taylor,
It is merely a point of courtesy to mention those who have any troops in Iraq and offer our thanks. If the President had failed to do that he would have criticized.
This does seem to be a minor point and I seriously doubt it was done for any other purpose than that. It was not to mislead anyone or imply other nations had substantial troops fighting alongside ours.
The American people know that we are doing the majority of the work over there.
September 14th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Where is the list of the 36, with numbers of troops?
September 14th, 2007 at 11:25 am
The good Dr. is quite right on this point and those who think otherwise have missed it. Bush’s mentioning of 36 nations is more than just “a point of courtesy”, it’s a carefully crafted attempt to paint our struggle and failure in Iraq as a grand coalition of like minded, freedom loving, benevolent nations when it more aptly could be described as a token support from bribed/brown-nosing bit players. And Bulgaria’s one of the better ones. Mongolia?! Come on.
Granted it’s only a small piece of garbage in the barrage of trash spewed last night, the Dr. is still quite right to point out its smell.
September 14th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Wading through all this folderol about patriotism and GOP leadership, I’m struck with the metaphor of paddling around in a flooded warehouse, greasy rats desperately trying to crawl and cling onto the dingy via the gently dipped paddles, as the submerged flotsam and jetsam of the last 7 years bangs that rhythm on a drum ‘gainst the side. I manage to oar the partialy flooded craft to some kind of dock, depart the boat, go around a dimly lit corner to view Joe Lieberman wrapped mummy-like in obviously used cotton gauze, head to foot, so that only a portal for his mouth is availed, to allow some kind of ill-advised respiration. Ann Coulter, decked out in the standard party approved guise, jackboots and all, entering through a door on the other side of the room advances and sticks whatever she likes into his gaping gob, which with very little imagination and, considerate of the amount of respect he’s garnered in the entertainment business, it’s disgusting what is travailing in front of me. Let’s just say that Michelle apparently have a sinus condition and leave it at that. I duck into the oval office at the cracker factory currently occupied by the brainless twit, to behold what was obviously at one time a large side of beef, which, since then, has festered to the point that not only flys are circling in willy-nilly holding patterns around it’s rotted mastiff, but some luckily unidentifiable fluid is dripping off of it into a rather gaily festooned holiday punch bowl filled to the brim with your favorite eggnog, cinnamon sprinkled in abstract, pointillist patterns and pipe like quacks, next to a scarecrow with an obvious boner. Except the scarecrow is Mr. Happy himself, Dick Cheney, looking dust-caked and ancient, admiring a framed picture on the wall depicting several men trudging across what appears to be a gristle encrusted lard glacier, with a caption “Mikey” fastened to it’s dusty, worm eaten balsa frame. The faint, vomit inducing melody from the picture “Titanic” by that retard chick singer with the bad B.O., intrudes the ambience, like being fisted by your dentist. My only wish at this time is that a demonic carnival clown throws a radio blaring Lou Christie’s latest paean to gay excess into my bathtub, filled as it is with whatever backed up in the sink last night after that furtive attempt at spaghetti sauce with sausages.
September 14th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
NO!!
Never underestimate the power of the Canadian troops in Iraq—- All TWO of them!!!
OH, and the Japanese, they have five— But they know Karate!!!
And better count the Brits before they live in 2008!!
So George is exagerating a little here, but hey, the man is under a lot of pressure. He has to schedule an entire speach schedule from Oil Corporations at $75,000 a pup for 2009.
Give the man a brake, can’t you see he is trying to lie more convincingly lately??
September 14th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Actually the remark “36 nations who have troops on the grownd in Iraq” was not even, in my opinion the most outrageous on an evening of outrages.
Try this one ” Security has returned to the al-Anbar province ” — Just hours after the Leader of the Sunni people in Al Ambar, Abdul Sattar was blown to bits by a bomb right outside his house.
This was a speech that simply insulted the intelligence of people. It was a speech made for people with the IQ of a tomato. Who writes this stuff for Bush???
And then the Right wanders why people calls this man an Idiot!!!
September 15th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
The most recent breakdown of the troop numbers by country that I could find is here. It is from February of this year so it is older than what you reference in your update, but at least this one has a breakdown of the numbers (which I didn’t see in that one).