PWHCE - Coalition of the Willing List, Map and Troop Numbers

Begun: March 2003
Completely overhauled: 20^th March 2004
Latest update: 18^th February 2005
Hits since relocation (October 2004): Counter

Contents:

Message from the editor

Maps of Coalition members in Europe - 2003 and 2004

Coalition of the Willing maps on other webpages

Full lists of Coalition members, 2003 and 2004

Troop numbers, March 2004

Observations on the Coalition of the Willing

Links to other sources of information

PWHCE articles, resources and talks relating to Iraq and the War on Terror

Responses to this page: Correspondence received

Message from the editor

In March 2003, the United States of America put together an international coalition, dubbed the "Coalition of the Willing" to toople Saddam Hussein. This coalition was predictably criticised, particularly by the anti-American Left, as coercive, unilateral and unrepresentative. Smaller countries in the Coalition were labelled "token" allies, and ulterior motives were ascribed to various Coalition governments, despite the respective governments outlining highly plausible reasons for their participation. Britain was characterised as isolated in Europe, despite the fact that most European countries were part of the Coalition of the Willing.

In this atmosphere of obfuscation and anti-Coalition propaganda, this page was constructed to explode the myths. This page sets out to present cold facts, rather than inventing conspiracies, as many other web publications have done. Direct links to sources such as news articles and government statements are provided, along with information in graphical form and some editorial comment.

This page was constructed by Trevor Stanley. Around April, I stopped updating maps and lists here, and left the page as an historical record of the state of play at the time of the main, conventional war in Iraq. Now, in March 2004, I have updated the page to show current involvement in the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq, while also maintaining the historical information.

Trevor Stanley,
Editor, Perspectives on World History and Current Events,
20^th March 2004.

Maps: The Willing and the Not-So-Willing in Europe
March-April 2003	March 2004
National borders adapted from an image by Brandon Plewe.
Key: Blue: Coalition of the Willing Red: Openly opposed invasion of Iraq Grey: Neutral or no position declared	Key: Blue: Coalition of the Willing and/or has troops in Iraq Has troops in Iraq Red: Opposed to American-led Coalition in Iraq Grey: Neutral or no position declared
Green: Ambiguous position. This includes Croatia and Slovenia (signatories to the Vilnius Statement, but not listed as part of the Coalition) and Norway and Sweden, which advocated a war to unseat Saddam Hussein until it became clear the UN would not support such a war, at which point they espoused offical positions of opposition to the war. Nonetheless, Sweden continued to supply the Coalition with arms (in possible breach of the Constitution) and Norway contributed troops to the stabilisation of Iraq.

Other Coalition Maps

ruste.org Blog: World Map.
World map with countries supporting the coalition orange, and contributing troops red.
Link added: 25/01/2004.

Footnote Fahrenheit: Coalition of the Willing (members) This page, part of a site that meticulously footnotes the claims made in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, provides background information on the Coalition along with a well presented world map of the original 30 listed Coalition members.
Link added: 9/11/2004.

L T Smash Blog: Map of Europe.
A map similar to ours with more recent data, showing only those countries that have contributed troops.
Link added: 25/01/2004.

Also on PWHCE: Winds of Change.
Assesses the outlook for democracy and peace in the Middle East. With a map and analysis.
Link added: 18/02/2005.

Who supported or opposed military action in Iraq? March-April 2003

European countries openly opposed to military action in Iraq in March-April 2003: France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Belarus, Greece. Sweden and Norway had an ambiguous position, speaking in favour of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by force, but then coming out against the invasion when an explicit UN mandate did not eventuate. Nonetheless, both countries made material contributions to the Coalition effort.
The new Socialist Government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero elected in Spain in March 2004 also placed itself in this camp.
Please note that this correspondence provides information on other countries that may have opposed the war. We are currently investigating.
We are currently seeking information on the position of Greece's new Government under President Costas Karamanlis of the conservative New Democracy Party.

Although this table is an historical record of the countries supporting the Coalition in March-April 2003, it is followed by an updated table for March 2004. This information is constantly changing, and information on this is not intended to be up-to-date at all times.

The Coalition of the Willing and Vilnius Group in March-April 2003

Europe	Asia	The Americas	Other
Western Europe: United Kingdom Spain Portugal Denmark Netherlands Iceland Italy Baltic States: Estonia # Latvia # Lithuania # Central Europe: Poland Czech Republic Slovakia # Hungary Balkans: Albania # Macedonia # Romania # Bulgaria # Turkey Croatia # Slovenia # Eastern Europe Ukraine	Japan South Korea Singapore Philippines Afghanistan Azerbaijan Uzbekistan Georgia Marshall Islands Micronesia Solomon Islands Mongolia Palau Tonga	North America: United States of America South and Central America: El Salvador Colombia Nicaragua Costa Rica Dominican Republic Honduras	ANZ: Australia Middle East: Kuwait Africa: Eritrea Ethiopia Uganda Rwanda Angola

States with personnel in Iraq as part of the Coalition. # Vilnius Group Statement signatories. (Note: Slovenia and Croatia are also signatories, but were not part of the Coalition) Note: Turkey moved troops into Iraq independently of Coalition forces. Taiwan and Israel both supported military action, however for diplomatic reasons neither was placed on the list. Malta and Cyprus were signatories to earlier statements in favour of action against Iraq. America claimed that about a dozen other countries had also joined the Coalition in confidence. The increase in the number of participants in the post-war phase supports this claim.

The Coalition of the Willing, The Vilnius Group and countries contributing troops in March 2004

Europe	Asia	The Americas	Other
Western Europe: United Kingdom Spain Portugal Denmark Norway Netherlands Iceland Italy Baltic States: Estonia # Latvia # Lithuania # Central Europe: Poland Czech Republic Slovakia # Hungary Balkans: Albania # Macedonia # Romania # Bulgaria # Turkey Croatia # Slovenia # Eastern Europe Ukraine Moldova	Japan South Korea Singapore Philippines Afghanistan Kazakhstan Uzbekistan Azerbaijan Georgia Marshall Islands Micronesia Solomon Islands Mongolia Palau Tonga Thailand	North America: United States of America South and Central America: El Salvador Colombia Nicaragua Costa Rica Dominican Republic Honduras	ANZ: Australia New Zealand Middle East: Kuwait Africa: Eritrea Ethiopia Uganda Rwanda Angola

States with personnel in Iraq as part of the Coalition. Countries in which Islam is the primary religion. # Vilnius Group Statement signatories. (Note: Slovenia and Croatia are also signatories, but were not part of the Coalition). Spain and Honduras are coloured red because they signalled in March 2004 that they would not renew their troop commitments in June 2004 unless a UN mandate was forthcoming. Note that other changes have occurred since then. More recent information on Latin American contributors is available here

Troop Contingents in Iraq by Country of Origin: March 2004

Iraq Troop numbers March 2004

	Country	Troops	Per 100000 population	Per 1000 military

1	USA	130,000	47.7	94.8
2	United Kingdom	9,000	15.2	42.4
3	Italy	3,000	5.3	11.3
4	Poland	2,460	6.7	10.2
5	Ukraine	1,600	3.2	5.1
6	Spain *	1,300	3.3	7.0
7	Netherlands	1,100	7.0	19.5
8	Australia	800	4.3	14.5
9	Romania	700	3.1	3.4
10	Bulgaria	480	5.9	5.9

11	Thailand	440	0.7	1.4
12	Denmark	420	7.8	17.3
13	Honduras *	368	6.1	5.4
14	El Salvador	361	6.2	14.7
15	Dominican Republic	302	3.7	12.3
16	Hungary	300	2.9	6.9
17	Japan	240	0.2	1.0
18	Norway	179	4.0	5.8
19	Mongolia	160	6.1	17.6
20	Azerbaijan	150	1.9	2.1
21	Portugal	128	1.3	2.6
22	Latvia	120	5.1	20.9
23	Lithuania	118	3.3	9.7
24	Slovakia	102	1.9	2.3
25	Czech Republic	80	0.8	1.4
26	Philippines	80	0.1	0.7
27	Albania	70	2.1	7.0 **
28	Georgia	70	1.4	2.7
29	New Zealand	61	1.7	6.4
30	Moldova	50	1.1	4.7
31	Macedonia	37	1.8	2.3
32	Estonia	31	2.2	6.5
33	Canada ^	31^
34	Kazakhstan	25	0.1	0.4
Sources: The Australian, 17^th March 2004. SBS World Guide, ninth edition, 2001.

Top ten by proportion of population

	Country	Troops	Proportion

1	USA	130,000	47.7
2	United Kingdom	9,000	15.2
3	Denmark	420	7.8
4	Netherlands	1,100	7.0
5	Poland	2,460	6.7
6	El Salvador	361	6.2
7	Honduras *	368	6.1
8	Mongolia	160	6.1
9	Bulgaria	480	5.9
10	Italy	3,000	5.3

Top ten by proportion of military

	Country	Troops	Proportion

1	USA	130,000	94.8
2	Honduras *	368	*** 44.3
3	United Kingdom	9,000	42.4
4	Latvia	120	20.9
5	Netherlands	1,100	19.5
6	Mongolia	160	17.6
7	Denmark	420	17.3
8	El Salvador	361	14.7
9	Australia	800	14.5
10	Dominican Republic	302	12.3

* After the March 2004 Madrid bombings, Spain announced that it would not renew its troop commitment in June 2004 unless a new UN mandate is forthcoming. As part of the Spanish contingent in Iraq, Honduras' Government announced that it would follow Spain's lead.
** Total military for Albania approximated at 10,000 (undergoing re-organisation when our edition of the SBS World Guide was compiled).
*** See below.
A more detailed list of Coalition commitments was posted at Blackfive Blog in November 2003.
A more recent, detailed account is available at GlobalSecurity.org.
Some Pacific Island states such as Palau and Marshall Islands have troops in Iraq. They are not listed separately because their troops are integrated directly into the American military.
^ Although Canadian Prime Minister said that "If military action proceeds without a new resolution of the Security Council, Canada will not participate," in fact it is participating. It has 31 officers on exchange programmes with Britain and the USA, as well as two frigates in the Persian Gulf.

How these figures were derived

Troop contributions figures are from The Australian, 17^th March 2004, page 9. (Sorry, no weblink).
The population and total military of each country was obtained from the SBS World Guide, ninth edition, 2001. Most population figures are 1999 estimates.

The "per 100,000 population" column was calculated by dividing the number of troops by the country's population, then multiplying by 100,000.

The "per 1,000 military" column was calculated by dividing the number of troops contributed to Iraq by the total number of troops in the country's military (including army, navy and airforce but not counting reserves) and multiplying by 1,000.

*** Note that Honduras' military has an unusual configuration, consisting of 8,300 regular troops and 60,000 reserves. We did not include reserves when calculating the figure for Honduras. If only regular troops are counted, Honduras has the second highest figure for "per 1,000 military" at 44.33 - just ahead of Britain - but if reserves are included Honduras drops off the "Top ten by proportion of military" chart, and Italy takes the tenth position with a figure of 11.3.

Comments

Several factors need to be kept in mind when reading the above tables.

These numbers are in flux, with small numbers of troops moving into, and out of, Iraq at any given time.

The contribution a particular country was making when these tables were compiled may be influenced by factors such as:

the size of the country's population, economy and military,
the quality and equipment of the troops involved,
the contribution made to the original ground war,
other commitments such as in Afghanistan or other hotspots
the country's local military situation (ie troops may be needed to defend a border)
other contributions may be made (such as funds, airstrips, flyover rights)

For example, Australia is listed as having 800 troops in Iraq, although November figures listed 850, and during March 2003 there were 2000 Australian troops in theatre, including warships, jet fighters and the Special Air Service, one of the world's finest special forces regiments. Furthermore, Australia played an important role in Afghanistan and has peacekeeping commitments in the Asia Pacific region.
Japan is providing at least $4 billion and Albania, whose economy is still in tatters after decades of communist dictatorship, has provided important logistical support to augment its 70 troop commitment.

Comment

The list of countries in the Coalition of the Willing is particularly interesting because of the patterns it doesn't produce, and the under-reported patterns it does. The list includes a number of muslim countries, several 'old' European countries, wealthy OECD countries, poorer countries, all ex-soviet Baltic States, all ex-soviet-dominated Central European States, many other former soviet vassals (Ukraine, Georgia, the Balkans except some Yugoslav States, Uzbekistan), several Asian states and three South American states.

Interestingly, it includes all those countries which were conquered by the Soviets in the 1940s; or to put it another way every country which secured its freedom from totalitarianism in the 1989-1992 counter-revolutions.

Every populated Continent is represented.

In many cases, the reason for a country's participation is readily evident from the country's history or current position, but in a number of cases this is not so easy to determine.

Trevor Stanley, March 2003.

Sources

GlobalSecurity.org Non-US Forces in Iraq - November 4 2004. Link added 13/11/2004.

Washington Post: Transcript of President Bush's 2004 State of the Union address, in which several of the contributing nations are listed. Immediately following the address, this page received a spike in hits. At least two (one, two) people were so eager to prove Bush a liar that they presented this page as conclusive evidence against the President of the United States. (At the time, this page was still only an historical record of the Coalition at the time of the invasion, leaving out Norway for example).

The White House: Statement of Support from the Coalition. This page lists quotes from a number of heads of state of members of the Coalition. It makes interesting reading.
26/03/2003. Link added 15/09/2003.

Wikipedia page on contributors to the Coalition
Note: since we originally linked to this page, it has been edited and now contains a number of errors. For example, it places Ukraine and Czech Republic in the 'unwilling' category, despite the fact that these two countries are in the Coalition of the Willing, and the then President of the Czech Republic was one of the world leaders most supportive of the invasion.

Other lists: A list of contributions made by different states.
There are some gaps, as with most such lists, but there is also some information PWHCE hadn't seen.
See also the Heritage Foundation's list.

Reuters/ABC News Online: Costa Rica abandons US 'coalition of the willing' Changes to the Coalition regarding hispanic countries. While Costa Rica, Honduras and Dominican Republic have followed Spain out of Iraq, El Salvador sent another 380 troops in August 2004. Date: 18/09/2004. Link added: 9/11/2004.

ABC Australia: Coalition Still Willing: Downer Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, speaking on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, reiterated Australia's commitment to the Coalition after the Madrid bombings. Date: 19/03/2004. Link added: 21/03/2004.

Granma: Statement of Support to President Zapatero
Cuba's propaganda organ publishes Fidel Castro's letter of support to Jos� Luis Rodr�guez Zapatero on his election as President of Spain, and calls on him to 'return' the Latin American troops working with the Spanish contingent in South Central Iraq. Date: 16/03/2004. Link Added: 21/03/2004. Via: World Press Review.

MEMRI: Member States in the American-Led Military Coalition in Iraq are Staying.
MEMRI reports on the reaction of selected Coalition states to the Madrid bombings, as perceived by Arab media. Date: 17/03/2004. Link added: 20/03/2004.

Blackfive blog: Countries with troops in Iraq.
A recent tally of troop contributions by country to the war in Iraq. Thirty-five countries currently have troops in Iraq, including the USA. Dated: 14/11/2003. Link added: 25/01/2004.

United Press International: Portugal: U.S. 'best way' to have security.
The Portugese Foreign Minister explains why his country chose to align itelf with the USA in the war in Iraq: "Let us suppose Portugal, proper or its archipelagos, faced a threat, who would come to our rescue? The European Commission, France, Germany? . . . I think it would be NATO who would come to our rescue, in other words, it would be the U.S., no one else would defend us."

INQ7: Pacific islanders angry at Iraq war sarcasm.
Sneering jibes by the commentariat led several islander nations to complain, pointing out that they do have troops in the Coalition.

CNN: War a poll winner for Howard.
It has become accepted wisdom in some circles that the population of coalition member countries was against the war. In Australia, this was initially true, but as the public learnt more, many people changed their minds. As the polls began to record consistent support for the action, the commentariat stopped quoting them. The Newspoll found in April 2003 that 57% of Australians supported the action and 36% were opposed.

Novinite: Statement of the Vilnius Group Countries, 5^th February 2003.
Mirrored here and here.

Gazeta Wyborcza/World Press Review In Support of President Bush: "We, The Traitors"
This article by Solidarnosc democracy campaigner Adam Michnik (Poland) is a rebuttal of an attack made by a German journalist against Michnik, Vaclav Havel and George Conrad, in which the three were accused of abandoning their principles by 'uncritically' supporting America. PWHCE Editor Trevor Stanley has encountered such criticisms of the Eastern and Central European members of the Coalition elsewhere, and this article is a powerful rebuttal. A wonderful exposition of the attitude of Eastern/Central Europe which led every one of those countries which was conquered by the Soviets in the 1940s, and freed themselves in the 1989-1991 Velvet Revolutions, to join the Coalition. Now in English, this is recommended reading.

Washington Times: Havel endorses U.S. line on Iraq
In a September 2002 interview, Vaclav Havel strongly supported military intervention in Iraq.

BBC: Arab League rejects Iraq War
An article on the position of Arab League states on the War in Iraq.
Quote: "If Iraq is to fall, many Arab countries will fall as well" - Ali al-Treiki, Libyan delegate to the Arab League, explaining why Libya opposed the war in Iraq.
Link added 11/04/2004

Athens Banner-Herald: List of the 'willing' (28^th March)
This article provides details on what each member of the Coalition contributed.

BBC: US Says "Coalition of the Willing" Grows Analysis by Steve Schifferes.
It's interesting to read this article in conjunction with an actual list of the countries concerned. Many commentators have tried to depict the coalition as being stacked out with small, ineffectual basket-case countries. Like many other commentators, Schifferes states that "Many of the countries on the list are from Eastern Europe", implying that Britain is isolated in Western Europe. He doesn't mention Denmark or the Netherlands. 19 European countries are publicly-declared members of the Coalition of the Willing (20 if we include Turkey).
Schifferes adds "it was hardly surprising that a number of tiny Pacific islands that had been US protectorates had offered symbolic support". Is Schifferes including Coalition members Japan, the Philippines and Singapore in this list of "tiny Pacific islands"?

United Press International: DOD: 13 Nations Join Coalition of Willing. Pamela Hess, Washington.
Two points of note:
The article says "Only the United Kingdom and Australia have acknowledged sending troops to fight", but previous reports have stated that Poland has 200 troops in Iraq, and that the Czech Republic and Slovakia have also contributed personnel.
The article also informs readers that, "The United States is carrying the cost of this conflict largely on its own. It could cost more than $70 billion for combat and reconstruction". Japan alone has pledged $4 billion, and numerous other members are contributing in various quantifiable ways. The UN and EU, initially reluctant to pledge funds for post-war reconstruction efforts, lest they appear to be sanctioning the war, are likely to change their minds now that it has begun. America may be contributing the majority of the funds, but then the US constitutes a very large proportion of the world economy. (Note: This comment is from March 2003)

Straits Times: Singapore a Member of "Willing Coalition"

Straits Times: All the President's Friends
"Washington has rolled out the red carpet for more than a dozen leaders from various countries which supported the war in Iraq." ... "'This is a group in the White House that has long memories. They reward their friends and punish their enemies.'" Of course, it would seem a bit odd the other way around...

Yahoo News/AFP: South Korea's assembly likely to vote to send troops to Iraq

Reuters: Powell Says U.S. Has 45-Nation Coalition on Iraq 18^th March 2003.

Southeast European Times: Why Albania Joined the Coalition of the Willing
By Ambassador Shaban Murati. 14/04/2003.
The Albanian ambassador explains why Albania, a democratic, European, muslim country, was so emphatically in favour of the Coalition of the Willing, offering airspace, ports, land bases and a military unit. Albania's Parliament was almost unanimously in favour (only one member abstained) and the majority of the general populace was also in favour.
As the ambassador says: "It is encouraging that Albania, having taking its position on the Iraqi crisis, is in step with the majority of the Eastern European states that also emerged from the communist dictatorship."

Taipei Times: 'No War' Does Not Equal 'World Peace'
By Joseph Wu, Deputy Secretary-General to the President of Taiwan. The article looks at Taiwan's position on the Iraq action, and popular support for the world anti-war protests, in Taiwan's historical context.
Note that Taiwan is not officially listed as a member of the "Coalition of the Willing".
20th March 2003.

Japan Times: Attack mandate valid: Koizumi
The Japanese Prime minister says new UNSC resolution is not necessary - war is already justified.
18^th March 2003.

Daily Times (Pakistan): 9 Countries for UN Special Session on Iraq 26^th March 2003.
Algeria, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Malaysia, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe have asked the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) (currently chaired by Libya) to hold a special session on the War on Iraq. This gives an idea of the countries to which France and Russia's veto threats appealed. Concerns about the Coalition's 'next target' would be foremost in the minds of many of these representatives.

World Press Review: Background Resources: Iraq
More links related to the Coalition.

AReporter.com: The Coalition of the Willing: Facts and Figures
Contains a table showing the contributions of each member, their defence budget and other statistics.

'Mutated Monkeys' weblog: Coalition of the Wiling II
A page kept up-to-date with the additions and removals from the list.

Deutsche Welle: Powell to Germany: We Will Stand Together
16/05/2003
After 'deep talks', Colin Powell and Gerhard Schr�der closed the diplomatic breach that had existed during the war in Iraq.

White House: Operation Enduring Freedom Press Release 27/03/2003
21/03/2003
Official White House Press Releases on the members of the Coalition of the Willing.

DefenseLINK (USA): Coalition of the Willing Provides Formidable Force
Another US Deparment of Defense media publication.

Thanks to Bj�rn St�rk, Bruce Bawer and an anonymous correspondent for information on Scandinavian countries.

Comment on this page at Trevor Stanley's Weblog

Related pages on PWHCE:

Winds of Change - democratic developments in the Middle East

The Middle East Project

The Polish Corruption Scandal and the 2004 US Presidential election, Jaroslaw Suplacz, October 2004.

Al Qaeda's 13th March 2004 Statement of Responsibility for the Madrid Bombings

From Black September to September 11: Blaming the Victims

Iraq Links and Articles page

Lessons from the War in Iraq, edited text of a PWHCE talk by Michael O'Connor AM, Australia Defence Association

The Crisis in Iraq, A Lenten Reflection on Iraq, Islam and the Pope - Guest Editorials by Gerald Mercer, Social Action.

Afghanistan and War on Terror Links

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Copyright �2003-2005 Trevor Stanley/PWHCE