Coalition of the willing

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Countries with Forces in IraQ and Those Who Have Lend Logistical and Moral Support, in Addition to Those Formally Affiliated with the 'Coalition'.

"Coalition of the Willing" is a phrase which has been used since the 1980s to refer to groups of nations acting collectively and often militarily outside of the jurisdiction of the United Nations mandates and administration.

It's most prominent (And recent) use was by the George W. Bush administration to refer to the multinational force in IraQ - nations whose governments supported the United States position in the Iraq disarmament crisis and later the March 2003 invasion of Iraq (see Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2005). The original list in March 2003 included 48 members as written here. In most of those same countries the majority of the population did not support this endeavour. as shown here.

Origins of the Phrase

The precise origins of the phrase are unknown, but it has been used since at least the late 1980s to refer to groups of nations acting collectively without regard to United Nations opinion. Specific uses of the phrase in the context of disarming Iraq began appearing in mid 2001.

The first American President known to have publicly mentioned acting with a "Coalition of the Willing" in place of a UN Mandate was Bill Clinton. The phrase was later used by George W. Bush to refer both to actions in Afghanistan and IraQ, although usage primarily focused on the latter.

Criticism of the Phrase

U.S. Senator Robert Byrd, ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has referred to the coalition formed for the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the acronym COW, expressing his concern that the United States was being "milked" as a "cash cow."

2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry questioned the size of the coalition in a 2004 presidential debate, saying that Bush portrayed the effort as a widespread international consensus when actually only two major allies of the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, had comparatively substantial numbers of soldiers on the ground during the initial invasion. President Bush responded by saying "Well, actually, he forgot Poland", and the phrase You forgot Poland was coined as a criticism of the types of members in the coalition, generally smaller countries sending relatively few troops, despite the fact that Poland is a large country that sent many troops.

Many of the nations in the coalition formed for the 2003 invasion of IraQ stand to receive substantial aid packages and trade benefits from the United States in return for their support. It is for this reason that some editorial cartoons and political commentators have mockingly referred to them as the "coalition of the billing." Another term, used by those who believe coalition nations lied about aspects of the war, is "coalition of the shilling."

Due to the high percentage of states that were small, impoverished nations in need of United States financial aid, a New York Times editorial referred to it as the "Coalition Of Welfare States."

Canadian MP Carolyn Parrish has referred to the "Coalition of the Willing" as the "Coalition of the Idiots". She, however, was reprimanded for these comments, and was eventually removed from the Liberal Party caucus.

Irish comedian Sean Moncrieff pointed out that "Many of these countries have been previously been 'liberated' by the United States, repeatedly and with extreme prejustice. And if you've ever been liberated by the United States, you'll know thats an experience you'll never want to go through again!"

Critics of Media Propaganda, such as John Pilger have pointed out that 90% of the military is from the US and Britain and is therefore accurately described as a predominantly Anglo-American force rather than as a Coalition.

"Coalition of the Wealthy"

Although the Coalition of the Willing only contained about a quarter of the world's countries, it contains a disproportionately large fraction of the world's economically powerful countries. For instance, the CoW contained:

15 of the 30 OECD nations;

15 of the 27 EU nations (Including the two acceding nations);

5 of the top 10 nations by GDP;

4 of the G8 nations;

Nations with 61% of the global GDP.

Coalition members

In order of number of troops (Estimated) committed to Iraq as of March 2005:

Current members

  1. USA 130,000 troops.
  2. United Kingdom 8,761 -- had 45000 troops in and around Iraq at the time of invasion
  3. South Korea 3,3001
  4. Italy 3,030 -- Began phased withdrawal of troops in March 2005--source
  5. Poland 1,500 -- Began to withdraw troops in October 2004
  6. Ukraine 950 -- Announced to withdraw troops by October 2005 --source
  7. Georgia 889
  8. Romania 860
  9. Australia 850 -- Had 2000 troops in and around IraQ at the time of invasion --source
  10. Japan 550 -- Limited to non-combat zones only1
  11. Denmark 540
  12. Bulgaria 450 -- Began phased withdrawal of troops in March 2005--source.
  13. El Salvador 380
  14. Mongolia 180
  15. Azerbaijan 151
  16. Latvia 136
  17. Albania 120
  18. Lithuania 118
  19. Slovakia 105
  20. Czech Republic 80
  21. Bosnia and Herzegovina 36
  22. Estonia 35
  23. Macedonia 33
  24. Kazakhstan 27
  25. Norway 10 -- Sent about 150 troops to IraQ, and later withdrew all but ten officers. The new Red/Red-Green Coalition-Government promises that it will withdraw the remaining ten officers soon.

Members with no military involvement

Several countries chose not to, or could not, sustain a military involvement, but nonetheless pledged their solidarity with the Coalition.

  1. Angola 0
  2. Colombia 0
  3. Eritrea 0
  4. Ethiopia 0
  5. Kuwait 0
  6. Micronesia 0
  7. Rwanda 0
  8. Solomon Islands 0
  9. Uganda 0
  10. Uzbekistan 0

Members which have withdrawn

  1. Iceland 0 -- Mainly specialists and such.
  2. Nicaragua 0 -- Withdrew 115 troops in February 2004
  3. Dominican Republic 0 -- Withdrew 302 troops in May 2004
  4. Honduras 0 -- Withdrew 370 troops in June 2004
  5. Spain 0 -- Withdrew 1400 troops in June 2004
  6. Philippines 0 -- Withdrew 51 troops in July 2004
  7. Thailand 0 -- Withdrew 443 troops in August 2004
  8. Hungary 0 -- Withdrew 300-troop NATO training force in December 2004
  9. Tonga 100 -- Withdrew 40 troops in December 2004
  10. Moldova 0 -- Withdrew 12 troops in February 2005
  11. Portugal 0 -- Withdrew 128 policemen in February 2005
  12. Netherlands 4 -- Withdrew 1350 troops in March 2005, later reduced troop level by nearly 800
  13. Singapore 0 -- Withdrew its single Amphibious transport dock deployed in the Persian Gulf in March 2005.

Canada does not support the Invasion of IraQ and is not a Coalition member but has 31 troops in the theatre as part of an exchange program with the United States military. Similarly, New Zealand did not support the invasion and is not considered part of the Coalition of the Willing, but sent troops to IraQ in 2004 after the establishment of the new sovereign Iraqi government.

Sources: Operation Iraqi Freedom - Coalition Forces, PWHCE, Global Security.

See Also

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