and British and other Coalition members stepping up to fill the void!
In the last week Spain, Honduras and the Dominican Republic have stated that they would pull out their military forces in Iraq citing everything from lack of UN involvement to increased threats to said forces....aside from Spain's appeasement policy (the UN already is involved in Iraq and reports have filtered out that the spanish troops aint exactly happy at being re-called home) and the two other goverments essentially punking out....the recent 'shake-up' if one could call it that in the coalition is nothing but growing pains...
With the 3 goverments pulling out of Iraq....Thailand is considering leaving as well (apparently because their soldiers might get shot at)....other members of the coalition have begun seeking to remedy the loss of troops by increasing their commitment of forces already in Iraq...most notably the UK. Initial plans have from 1,500 to 2,000 to be deployed as part of second multi-national division under their command...with a twist.....this deployment by the UK and other coalition nations will be posted closer near the 'Sunni Tirangle' which would allow them more operational flexibility...other nations that are considering deploying more troops are Poland, Austrailia, Ukraine...and that is beside nations like Austria and Iceland that are getting close to deploying troops for the first time...
In the end all the media hype bout the loss of 1670 troops; 1,300 from spain, 300 from honduras...with 370 from dominican republic; while regretable is only a bump in the road as it were...especially with the very deffinate possibility of reinforcement from current and future coalition nations....I think it's time we gave the proper respect thats needed to those other members of the coalition whose militaries might be smaller than the US..most nations are the world over...but who's contribution is no less comendable!