Yet another country is pulling out of Iraq.
The government of Ukraine, acting a day after an explosion killed eight of its soldiers in Iraq, announced Monday that it would withdraw its 1,650-member force by the middle of 2005.
Ukraine has been moving for months toward pulling out its forces, but officials have remained vague about dates; Monday’s statement, which followed a meeting between President Leonid Kuchma and his defense and foreign ministers, gives new firmness to those intentions.
Ukraine’s roll in Iraq was no small matter; this has been the fourth-largest contingent in the coalition.
The Ukrainian announcement comes two months after the Netherlands announced it was withdrawing its 1,350 troops, which came less than two weeks after Hungary said it, too, is pulling out. In the months immediately preceding those announcements, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and the Philippines all said their troops are returning home.
Of course, “You forgot” Poland, the fourth largest contributor of troops, has announced that its 2,400 troops are also on the way out, as are soliders from Thailand, Singapore, Moldova, and Bulgaria.
Remember back in the campaign when John Kerry and John Edwards suggested that Bush’s coalition was really just down to us, the British, and the Australians, and the Bush campaign insisted the Dems were wildly off-base?