My Googling has failed to come up with the answer to the question in the title. Is there a reliable source that says how many coalition troops have been sent to Iraq? Preferably, broken down by which country they are from.
I don’t think the US has or will release the exact number of American troops who have served in Iraq. All you ever hear or read are estimates.
Here’s a partial answer, from a story by Wayne Woolley of the Newark Star-Ledger published today (sorry, no link):
“According to the Defense Department, there are about 37,000 Army National Guard troops and about 17,000 Army Reservists in Iraq to supplement roughly 60,000 soldiers from the regular Army. An additional 20,000 active-duty Marines and about 5,000 Marine Reservists make up the rest of the troops in Iraq.”
This doesn’t give you the figures for the British troops in the Basra area, nor the other coalition troops. In today’s paper (Sunday 7/11) about the Philippine hostage, the story notes there are 51 soldiers from that country, and about 4,000 Philippine civilians working for contractors.
Thanks pesch!
Coalition troops in Iraq
More than 30 countries have contributed troops to the multinational force in Iraq, which numbers more than 160,000.
The US is overwhelmingly the biggest contributor, with 138,000 troops, followed by the UK.
Italy and Poland, in third and fourth places, are due to be overtaken by South Korea over the coming months.
US sector:
US - 138,000
South Korea - 600, due to rise to 3,600
Azerbaijan - 150
Georgia - 150
Albania - 70
Estonia - 45
Tonga - 45
Polish sector (Multinational division Centre-South):
Poland - 2,350
Ukraine - 1,550
Thailand - 450
Bulgaria - 420
Hungary - 290
Romania - 200
Mongolia - 140
Latvia - 110
Slovakia - 110
The Philippines - 90
Lithuania - 50
(Source: Multinational division Centre-South website, figures dated 16 June 2004.)
UK sector (Multinational division South-East):
UK - 8,300
Italy - 2,800
The Netherlands - 1,300
Japan - 500
Romania - 500
Denmark - 400
Norway - 130 (in the process of leaving)
Portugal - 124
Czech Republic - 90
Lithuania - 60
New Zealand - 60
(Source: MND SE spokesman, 7 July 2004)
Others:
Australia has 850 troops in and around Iraq, mainly carrying out specialist functions such as air traffic control, air transport, aerial maritime patrols and maritime interception.
Singapore has also supplied a transport aircraft, a tank-carrying landing ship and police for training purposes - in total some 200 troops and police.
Some countries have significant numbers of soldiers operating in the headquarters of the multinational force in Baghdad, and on warships or in air bases near Iraq. In the case of the UK, about 1,150 servicemen and women fall into this category.
Kazakhstan, Macedonia and Moldova have each contributed less than 40 troops.
Spain withdrew its 1,300 troops in April. Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Norway and Kazakhstan have either withdrawn their forces, or are in the process of doing so.
Very nice, thanks glee!
My pleasure.
(Another benefit of a publically funded TV service!)