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2007-06-22 Iraq

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Posted by Fred 2007-06-22 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top
File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1 Got them my mother hated me with good reason eyes.

Posted by Shipman 2007-06-22 00:48|| 2007-06-22 00:48|| Front Page Top

#2 Got them I spat in your cous-cous eyes too.

Posted by Howard UK 2007-06-22 06:51|| 2007-06-22 06:51|| Front Page Top

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2007-06-22 07:49|| 2007-06-22 07:49|| Front Page Top

#4 Perhaps he has one of those intestinal parasites that drain one's energy and intelligence. Someone please tell him that's not a good colour for him; it hurts my eyes just to look.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-06-22 08:30|| 2007-06-22 08:30|| Front Page Top

#5 When the press start referring to these knuckle draggers as "foreign fighters." Seems like that dignifies what they do more than it should. They are friggin terrorists. They do friggin terrorist's things.

Posted by JohnQC 2007-06-22 09:12|| 2007-06-22 09:12|| Front Page Top

#6 5¢ he looks better ded.

Posted by Red Dawg">Red Dawg 2007-06-22 09:58|| 2007-06-22 09:58|| Front Page Top

#7 "Foreign Fighters"? So what - this is and always will be a global war not an Iraq war or Afghan war but a truly global war. It is without doubt and UN approval WW3 and we again have the lead no one else wants or could even deliver on. America alone except for the Brits (soon to whimper out), the Aussies, a few Koreans and our new best friends in New Europe. The trouble is that the ones with their 'neck in the sand'(Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France) have as much trouble brewing as do the Iraqis and Afghans. Its only a matter of time....tic, tic, tic,

Posted by Jack is Back!">Jack is Back! 2007-06-22 10:26|| 2007-06-22 10:26|| Front Page Top

#8 And the Japanese, the Mongolians, etc. I'm not sure of the exact number, but I seem to recall there are contingents from something like 40 countries in Afghanistan, about half that in Iraq. (Afghanistan having become something of a Special Forces playground, I think. You know, you ain't nobody if you ain't in the game, that kind of thing.) lotp, do you recall who is in which country? You're generally on top of such things

Posted by trailing wife 2007-06-22 14:35|| 2007-06-22 14:35|| Front Page Top

#9 Here's a summary as of Feb 2007 of the contingents in Iraq, those that pulled out and promised troops for the future.

It gets more complicated re: Afghanistan, insofar as there were significant contributions by countries that allowed e.g. the use of their territory for logistical supply points, but didn't send troops. NATO's ISAF includes US, UK, Canadian, Danish, Estonian, Dutch, Portuguese and Romanian troops. The French have some Mirages in Tajikistan, some regular troops in the north and has deployed some special forces. German activity in Afghanistan has been mostly limited to non-combat roles and locations. Australians were also involved (not NATO members) but withdrew in 2006 IIRC.

I recently heard a German general who commanded at the NATO level there note that because of the tendency for units to be small, it's hard to coordinate ops & the potential for friendly fire casualties is higher than in previous conflicts - a problem exacerbated by the inclusion of some non-NATO troops as well. NATO's planning to deploy a Friendly Forces Tracker next year, but no decision has been taken re: extending that to non-members who deploy troops (so far as I know).
.

Posted by lotp 2007-06-22 14:55|| 2007-06-22 14:55|| Front Page Top

#10 I left out the Norwegian air wing in Afghanistan (a detachment, really, of 4 F16s).

Those are the major players ... there may also be unacknowledged contingents of special ops from other countries, but I'm not aware of who they might be, if so.

Posted by lotp 2007-06-22 14:58|| 2007-06-22 14:58|| Front Page Top

#11 Thank you, lotp.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-06-22 15:01|| 2007-06-22 15:01|| Front Page Top

#12 My pleasure ;-)

Posted by lotp 2007-06-22 15:03|| 2007-06-22 15:03|| Front Page Top

#13 Other countries who have or have had troops in Afghanistan:

Finland, New Zealand, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania ....

I did a (very rough order-of-magnitude) estimate of the degree of military commitment by some of these coalition members to Iraq &/or Afghanistan (high point of commitment, current or past).

The '% of troops deployed' is the ratio of deployed troops to the strength of their regular armed forces (not counting reserves, home guard etc.). It doesn't include special forces who might be deployed but weren't in the summary #s I had at hand.

Country - % of troops deployed - % of population

US - 8.40% - .041%
UK - 4.34% - .026%
Australia - 2.45% - .009%
Netherlands - 2.07% - .019%
Denmark - 1.87% - .016%
Romania - .92% - .002%
Poland - .72% - .002%

Note that these figures are rough estimates. They don't count troops deployed elsewhere or any troops committed to logistical and other support roles - just those deployed in theatre in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. Poland, for instance, has troops in Kosovo and a number of additional places besides Afghanistan and Iraq.

Equally important, these figures don't take into account the large disparities in economy and wealth among some of the coalition partners. Latvia, for instance, has only a small contingent, but that deployment represents a major commitment of resources for them.

Just some numbers I've had around for a while.

Posted by lotp 2007-06-22 16:31|| 2007-06-22 16:31|| Front Page Top

#14 Ooops. make that:

US - 10.9% - .053%

Posted by lotp 2007-06-22 18:28|| 2007-06-22 18:28|| Front Page Top

#15 I take umbrage at your statement Jackisback.

'Whimper out' is totally out of line - we've been hit with terrorist strikes for quite some time. We have dealt with it the best we could under the circumstances. Our 'leaders', like many US 'leaders' are not worthy of the name, and in general, do not speak for the country as a whole.

When you say 'The Brits' are going to 'whimper out', you're really saying the Socialist swine who are in government at the moment (on a historically tiny proportion of the vote) want to get out of Iraq to appease their own left-wing shit-heads.

You owe an apology.

Posted by Tony (UK) 2007-06-22 18:35|| 2007-06-22 18:35|| Front Page Top

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