Edwards on going it alone
John Edwards said at the DNC tonight that members of America's armed forces will know that under a Kerry administration they will never have to "fight the war on terror alone." The fact that we are not alone in Iraq or Afghanistan seems unknown to him.

The contributions of individual NATO Allies as well as the support of the NATO Alliance as a whole has been vital to the ability of the Multinational Force to carry out its mission in Iraq.

NATO Allies. In addition to the large U.S. contributions in Iraq, 15 of the other 25 NATO Allies contribute more than 17,000 troops to Iraq stabilization operations.

— The United Kingdom and Poland command multinational divisions in the Southeast and Central-South regions of Iraq, respectively.

— Forces from NATO Allies make up almost the entire U.K.-led division, including the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Romania.

— The Polish-led division includes national forces from such NATO Allies as Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Slovakia, as well as NATO Partners Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Estonia has forces in Baghdad and Al-Nasiriyah.

— The numerous contributions from individual NATO Allies range from brigade headquarters and multiple battalions to engineering companies and cargo handlers. ...

Future Roles. Alliance leaders agreed today to offer NATO's assistance to the Government of Iraq with the training of its security forces, in response to a request from the Iraqi Interim Prime Minister. They therefore also encouraged Allied nations to contribute to the training of Iraqi armed forces.

Alone? There are 19 other nations listed as participating in Iraq operations: The United Kingdom, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Estonia. Yesterday Russia promised to help stability operations in Iraq with economic and materiel assistance that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "will be no less than the the contributions of the participants in the multinational forces."

Who is missing? Oh, yeah. The French. Without them all is lost because we're going it alone.

Kerry has long promised to have the best possible relations with European allies. So why does he never acknowledge the contributions all the above-named nations have made? Seems a curious way to start a revolution in diplomatic affairs.

by Donald Sensing, 7/28/2004 09:51:54 PM. Permalink |