What I’m starting this thread for is to have a factual resource available on what each country from the “Coalition of the Willing” contributed to the recent U.S.-led war that resulted in the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
It is not a thread intended at debating the value of that war or at carping at the claims of the U.S. State Department regarding the aforementioned Coalition. But I’ve noticed a number of sarcastic threads in GD lately about small countries claimed as members of the Coalition that apparently did nothing but moral support. And I am aware that some countries did back the U.S. in the war with material support.
I’m aware that Great Britain sent troops, and the Czech Republic a small contingent. I believe Canada and Australia both sent either troops or physical support of some sort.
I’m seeking to have a factual list of who contributed what, that’s all. And if there is a consolidated list somewhere I’ve yet to see it.
Reiterating that it’s not a debate on whether that war was a good idea, whether the Coalition was or was not a smokescreen, etc. – this thread is supposed to be merely factual data on the extent to which the nations claimed as part of the Coalition provided practical, physical support for that war.
Canada didn’t send a troop contribution, being opposed to the war. But, it gets a bit confusing.
It’s not uncommon for small numbers of Canadian soliders to be attached to American military units as part of long-standing troop exhanges/training exercises. When some of those U.S. units went to Iraq, some Canadian soliders went with them. It wasn’t many - from news reports at the time, I’d guess <50, but will see if I can find out more.
The situation is further confused by the fact that Canada was an active participant in the war in Afghanistan. As part of that effort, Canada contributed a naval contingent to patrol the coast line to interdict any Taliban/alQaeda attempts to get into or out of Afghanistan by shipping, ship-based terrorist attacks, etc. Some of those Canadian naval vessels were patrolling about half-way up the Persian Gulf. Although technically not part of the Iraq War effort, those patrols indirectly benefitted the U.S., since they reduced the U.S. need to attend to those naval matters.
When this information came out, the Opposition made a bit of a to-do about it, arguing that the Government had done its best to alienate the U.S. administration by loudly not participating, yet there were Canadian forces in the area.
Here’s a page from I dunno when - it has no date - with a pretty comprehensive list of troop contributions and some other numbers. There are also a bunch of links at the bottom that are apparently the sources for the compilation. Those sources might provide some additional details.
Right. Do we really believe that Macedonia is contributing mace? Or that Portugal is providing cat toys? I certainly hope you provided that link in jest.
Here is a sort of out-of-date listing. Poland, Italy, and Bulgaria (and Ukraine, I believe), have since sent troops, but you’d need to google for actual numbers.