Fred Kaplan writing in Slate last Thursday:
"Second, about those 31 coalition members: All told, according to the report, they're contributing about 24,000 troops. The British alone are supplying about 8,000. So the remaining 30 countries have a total of 16,000 troops in Iraq—an average of just over 500 troops per country. The United States has about 130,000 troops over there—more than five times as many as all the other 31 countries combined ... — which include such powerhouses as Albania, Azerbaijan, and Tonga ... This is not a coalition in the recognized sense of that word."
Well, I don't know. Speaking for myself, I think I'd feel quite comfortable being under the protection of 500 Tongans. Those are some pretty big lads.
