# How many troops have been sent to Iraq? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-troops-have-been-sent-to-iraq/254517 "2004-07-11T02:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-troops-have-been-sent-to-iraq/254517/1 "2004-07-11T02:57:12Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-troops-have-been-sent-to-iraq/254517/2 "2004-07-11T03:02:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-troops-have-been-sent-to-iraq/254517/3 "2004-07-11T04:35:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-troops-have-been-sent-to-iraq/254517/4 "2004-07-11T15:06:35Z")
Thanks **pesch**! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-troops-have-been-sent-to-iraq/254517/5 "2004-07-11T15:32:09Z")
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. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle\_east/3873359.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3873359.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-troops-have-been-sent-to-iraq/254517/6 "2004-07-11T15:41:08Z")
Very nice, thanks **glee**! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-troops-have-been-sent-to-iraq/254517/7 "2004-07-11T15:48:27Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Very nice, thanks **glee**! My pleasure. (Another benefit of a publically funded TV service!)