Wednesday, December 28, 2005
The Shrinking Coalition
The Bulgarians and the Ukrainians have left (kinda). The Poles will remain but will be a smaller presence (900 troops, down from 1500, all training Iraqi soldiers). Or so reports the AP here.
To the left is Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, visiting his country's troops on Boxing day, their last day in Iraq. I kinda like the Ukrainian desert camo (just as I admired the Bulgarian camo here). I have no idea how effective it is, but it looks cool. The guy in the black vest behind Yushchenko has an AK side-folder. Notice too the Christmas decorations and American soft drinks on the table.
We'll no doubt miss these guys, but the pressing need for crack troops to back up the growing Iraqi forces seems to be waning. I expect our own troop strength in Iraq to lessen over the next few months as well.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:45 AM 
