The Coalition of the Willing appears to be going out of business

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903043.html?hpid=topnews

Most Members of Iraq Coalition Preparing to Pull Up Stakes

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 10, 2008; Page A03

The Coalition of the Willing appears to be going out of business.

President Bush tucked a little extra news yesterday into a speech largely devoted to informing the public that he plans to withdraw 8,000 more troops from Iraq: He also announced that most of the countries that have been partnering with the United States in Iraq over the past five years will be pulling their troops out as well.

"Australia has withdrawn its battle group, the Polish contingent is set to redeploy shortly, and many more coalition nations will be able to conclude their deployments to Iraq this year -- thanks to the skill of their troops and the success of their missions," Bush said in a speech to the National Defense University.

The presence of other countries in Iraq, even if the troop contribution was modest, has long been used by the Bush administration as a way of deflecting criticism that its actions in Iraq were "unilateral." Now, Bush is portraying their departure as a sign of "return on success," his policy of bringing home troops as conditions improve in Iraq.

It's also a sign that the U.N. mandate permitting foreign troops to operate in Iraq expires at the end of the year. Any country that remains will have to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the Iraqi government, as the United States is now trying to do.

[billyoc]

1. I forgot about Poland.

:hide:

[pearl]

2. I call it

The coalition of the willing, billing, bribed and bullied.

[pretzel4gore]

3. the job's done...

a) steal the 2000 election through pigmedia lies
b) have 911 occur just before NORC results published, postponing the results which prove bush never won 2k election
c)id the arabs as attackers right away
d)anthrax, washington sniper fill news cycles while war on Afghanistan being prepared
e) flight 587 explodes morning NORC results actually published- NORC results shoved on back pages; pigmedia claims numbers favour bush, though clearly Gore won ...
f) war against Afghanistan
g)war claims on Iraq
H) war starts against Iraq
I) news full of war, mission accomplished etc
j) blah blah blah...bush wins versus Kerry
k) economy being bankrupted, Katrina
l) bush retire
m) war's over- btw what war? there's nutting in the news :shrug: