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Members of the "coalition of the willing" (last updated October 7, 2004)
The list given in Fahrenheit 9/11 is incomplete and did leave out the United States' two most active allies at the beginning of military action in Iraq: the United Kingdom and Spain. But the recitation of some of the coalition's smaller members does point out that the coalition is missing the broad support of major countries that the United States originally sought as well as the support of many countries in the Middle East.
There were at least two "lists" identifying the members of the "coalition" in March 2003. The State Department identified 30 other coalition members in a March 18, 2003 press briefing, and the United States Senate passed a resolution identifying 50 other members on March 27, 2003. The map below reflects the members identified in the March 18, 2003 press briefing.
Click on the map to open a bigger version
Very few coalition members provided troops at the beginning of military operations in March 2003. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on March 18 that members "may just be allowing access, overflight, or other participation in that way, or they may just have decided they want to be publicly associated with the effort to disarm Iraq." Perhaps tellingly, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt were not on the list. Besides the United States, the members were as follows:
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Australia
- Azerbaijan
- Colombia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- El Salvador
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Georgia
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Japan
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Macedonia
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Philippines
- Poland
- Romania
- Slovakia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- Uzbekistan
The 50-member coalition identified in the Senate's March 27, 2003 resolution included members who had actually provided military forces (four such nations), many nations who had issued a declaration stating the danger posed by Iraq, and many that had provided "diplomatic and strategic support." The following table breaks down the list of members by category. Australia is classified here as providing troops but was also thanked for providing "diplomatic and strategic support."
| Provided military forces
| Issued declarations finding that Iraq was a threat
| Provided "diplomatic and strategic support"
|
Australia
Denmark
Poland
United Kingdom
|
Afghanistan
Angola
Azerbaijan
Colombia
Costa Rica
The Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Georgia
Honduras
Iceland
Japan
Kuwait
Macedonia
The Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Mongolia
The Netherlands
Nicaragua
Palau
Panama
The Philippines
Rwanda
Singapore
The Solomon Islands
South Korea
Tonga
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
| Albania
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Hungary
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
|
This list notably did include one Middle Eastern country, Kuwait, which the United States liberated from Iraq more than a decade earlier. It also included many small countries, such as the Marshall Islands, which is closely linked with the United States and which was administered by the United States until 1979, when it was recognized as its own country.
After the "major combat operations" phase, more nations sent troops to help with the reconstruction efforts in Iraq. By August 2003, there were about 22,000 troops from 27 countries other than the United States in Iraq, according to Boucher at an August 20 press briefing. The list of these countries is as follows:
- Albania
- Azerbaijian
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Dominican Republic
- Georgia
- El Salvador
- Estonia
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Macedonia
- Mongolia
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Norway
- Poland
- Romania
- Slovakia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
Support has eroded among the coalition. In early 2004, Spain, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras said they planned to withdraw their forces from Iraq. In addition, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said in mid-March 2004 that Poland had been "misled" about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and was considering withdrawing its forces earlier in 2005 than expected; Poland's defense minister reportedly said in October 2004 that Poland's forces would stay throughout 2005 but withdraw sometime soon afterwards.
Costa Rica also asked in September 2004 that it be removed from the list of Iraq coalition members after a court ruling that found that inclusion on that list violated the country's constitution.
Sources: A transcript of State Department Richard Boucher's March 18, 2003 press briefing is on-line here. Senate Concurrent Resolution 30 (agreed to by U.S. Senate on March 27, 2003 in a 97-0 vote). A transcript of Boucher's August 20, 2003 press briefing is on-line here.
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