Iraq and the coalition forces.

In case you were wondering about the latest on the coalition forces..........



(Cleveland Plain Dealer, 7 May 2003)

Coalition nations offer help (sort of)

05/08/03

William J. Kole
Associated Press


Vienna, Austria - Bulgaria has 450 soldiers ready to go to Iraq. Azerbaijan is sending 150. Poland is considering up to 2,200, Italy as many as 3,000. But Denmark is good for only 380, Estonia just 55 - and Latvia a mere dozen.

America's coalition partners are preparing to deploy peacekeepers, but in numbers so small that the United States probably won't be able to hand off postwar duties to a large international force anytime soon.

Military experts say at least 40,000 troops will be needed to keep the peace.

"The force protection and troop requirements are pretty high," said Jonathan Stevenson, a defense specialist with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. "The United States is going to find it difficult to make firm plans to get out in a big way."

Neither Britain, America's chief war partner with 40,000 military personnel still in the region, nor Australia, the No. 2 coalition backer with 2,000 combat forces, has decided how many will remain to stabilize Iraq.

The debate over deploying peacekeepers also is whipping up fresh anti-war sentiment in nations such as Hungary, where the government has proposed dispatching 300 troops for up to six months.

Portugal is embroiled in a similar debate. President Jorge Sampaio, a Socialist, contends troops can't be sent without a mandate from an international body. Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso, a conservative, wants to send a military force to help consolidate security and distribute aid.

Other countries are worried about the cost.

Poland, which sent 200 special forces to help with the war, has been tapped by Washington to head one of four sectors the Pentagon intends to set up in Iraq. But Polish leaders say they can't afford the $90 million a year it would cost to maintain up to 2,200 peacekeepers in Iraq, and they're pressing for U.S. help to pay the bill.

The Philippines said this week it scaled down its humanitarian mission to Iraq from 500 personnel to 175 because of a cash crunch.

It, too, hopes the Americans will underwrite the peacekeeping costs.

Other countries haven't flinched.

Italy is sticking to its commitment to send 2,500 to 3,000 troops to help restore order and provide humanitarian assistance. The forces are expected to deploy in June.

The largely Muslim republic of Azerbaijan yesterday approved the deployment of 150 peacekeepers for patrols, law enforcement and protection of religious and historical monuments.

Bulgaria, responding to a U.S. request, signaled it was ready to send 450 soldiers by mid-June - a larger commitment than the 170 troops it initially planned to send.

Romania also is leaning toward contributing to a multinational peacekeeping force. So are the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

But most contributions are falling far short of U.S. expectations. Washington asked Denmark for 5,000 troops; the Danes plan to send 380.