Run the Numbers
filed in News on Sep.28, 2004
Yes, this is a political post. But it’s a good one, and short (in content that is — it’s rather long in terms of screen real estate).
You’ve heard Kerry’s droning on and on about how he would emphasize “rebuilding our international relationships” etc. etc. — and why? All because President Bush supposedly “went it alone” in Iraq and “alienated” our “friends and allies”. But is that an accurate assessment of the situation based on the numbers of troops currently committed to Operation Iraqi Freedom?
Mark Levin, writing for NRO, compares troop numbers in the Korean War to the current war in Iraq.
So, the U.S. coalition in Iraq is insignificant? Well, let’s compare it to the U.S.-led U.N. coalition during the peak of the Korean War.
Korean War (peak troop numbers, by country, excluding Republic of Korea forces):
- United States: 348,000
- Great Britain: 14,198
- Canada: 6,146
- Turkey: 5,455
- Australia: 2,282
- Philippines: 1,496
- New Zealand: 1,389
- Thailand: 1,294
- Ethiopia: 1,271
- Greece: 1,263
- France: 1,119
- Colombia: 1,068
- Belgium/Luxembourg: 944
- South Africa: 826
- Netherlands: 819
Total: 16 nations; 387,570 combat troops
Iraq War (troop numbers, by country, as of July 2004, excluding Iraqi forces):
- United States: 126,500
- Great Britain: 8,300
- Italy: 3,120
- Poland: 2,400
- Ukraine: 1,650
- Netherlands: 1,400
- Australia: 850
- Romania: 800
- Japan: 600
- South Korea: 600
- Denmark: 520
- Bulgaria: 485
- Thailand: 450
- El Salvador: 380
- Hungary: 300
- Singapore: 200
- Norway: 155
- Azerbaijan: 150
- Georgia: 150
- Mongolia: 140
- Latvia: 120
- Portugal: 110
- Czech Republic: 110
- Lithuania: 105
- Slovakia: 105
- Albania: 70
- New Zealand: 60
- Tonga: 45
- Estonia: 40
- Kazakhstan: 30
- Macedonia: 30
- Moldova: 10
Total: 32 nations; 149,985 combat troops
In terms of overall troop level, the Iraq war is a much smaller war than the Korean War. Yet the number of nations in the Iraq war coalition currently doubles the Korean War coalition. Moreover, the United States was by far the largest contributor of military personnel in the Korean War, even though that was a U.N.-led coalition. And Poland, the Ukraine, and the Netherlands each contribute more military personnel to the Iraq War coalition than France contributed to the Korean War.
The Korean War was fought with minimal support from France, no support from the then-Federal Republic of Germany, and against the Russian-backed Communist regime in North Korea.
The fact is that President Bush has built a real and impressive coalition in Iraq.
October 1st, 2004 on 10:03:14 am
Before I say this, I just want to point out that I’m neither a Kerry support or a Bush basher. I hate both of them equally…
There are several issues I have with these numbers. Many of the countries listed as participating in the Iraq war were a part of the Soviet Union during the Korean War — Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Ukraine. When you include nations that were a part of the Warsaw Pact, you can add Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia (which really counts as two nations, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary, Poland, and Romania. That’s 14 nations that are a part the coalition in Iraq that couldn’t have participated on our side in Korea even if they’d wanted to.
Another point you make is that we had minimal support from some of our “major” allies during the Korean War, namely France and Germany. Seeing as how the Korean War started just five years after the end of WWII, it’s understandable that these nations could not participate more heavily — Europe was pretty trashed after that war.
I think comparing Korea to Iraq is a mistake as well — the Korean War was a reaction to North Korea’s invasion of South Korean. The war in Iraq was started to overthrow a brutal dictator and prevent their support of terrorism.
The main thing I’m trying to say is that this war is about more than just numbers. Numbers can be twisted around however you like. I don’t think there’s one right answer as to how we finish this war, or one right way as to how we should have become involved.
Besides, we all know that the Tongans are a bunch of brown-nosers that joined up just to get on our good side. Stupid Tongans…
October 1st, 2004 on 4:59:53 pm
Interesting points, all. Pointing out that 14 nations that are helping in Iraq now that couldn’t have helped in Korea even if they’d wanted to is a good observation.
Interestingly, that point begs the question: why do they now have the option to help us in Iraq? Because the Soviet Union collapsed and they became free, self-determined countries. While the details of the reasons behind that series of events are more complicated than this little comment will go into, suffice it to say that the massive arms race that we — the U.S. — locked them into was the single largest contributing factor. And we kept at it until the very end, despite the loud, vehement dissensions of people like the current Democratic presidential candidate, because we had a president who doggedly believed that the USSR was an “evil empire” and that America must stand against her in the world, because no one else could. That kind of talk — of evil, of duty — sounds familiar. (A preemptive strike of my own: spare me the Hitler references. Stick ‘em in the circular file with the choking-on-pretzel jokes.)
Some other interesting statistics:
– 8 of the 15 former USSR republics supported Iraq war
– 1 of the 7 that didn’t is Russia
– of the remaining 6 that didn’t 4 share a border with at least one of Iran, Afghanistan, or Turkey
More than half of these former USSR republics supported the U.S. — even if the only support they could offer was 30 or 40 soldiers. That tells me that these countries wanted the U.S. to know that they have not forgotten the debt they owe for their freedom. It also seems notable that 4 of the 7 unsupportive countries have majority Muslim populations: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
As for the Tongans: we ALL know what they’re up to…
October 1st, 2004 on 5:19:13 pm
Look, guys – If you want to make fun of Tongans, that’s fine. That’s cool. Just know that my brother has Tongans, and I don’t happen to find it very funny.
October 1st, 2004 on 5:24:30 pm
Speaking of, I actually have TonGlans.
I’ll leave looking that condition up on Google as an exercise for the reader…