The Associated Press commits a faux pas:
Poland turned over control of an area south of Baghdad to American troops on Saturday, making it the latest in a string of countries to leave the dwindling U.S.-led coalition.
But even as Polish troops head home from Iraq, their government is boosting troop levels in Afghanistan and preparing for a U.S. missile defense base in Poland.
It is funny that our coalition never existed for the press until they can say that the departure of a nation means that the coalition is now evaporating. After all, how do you portray Poland's departure as bad if their departure is from something that doesn't exist? Quite the dilemma, eh?
But Poland played a role in Iraq from day one with their special forces and stayed long enough to see Iraq through the most difficult days. The fact is, Iraqi forces are taking over for the Coalition, and though our troops remain in Iraq, our troops are fighting less and less.
The situation is far better now, and mere criminal gangs are rising in the threat profiles inside Iraq even as we hunt down jihadis who are more target than threat:
In many parts of Iraq, the emphasis has turned from hunting terrorists, to going after purely criminal (non-political) gangs. But elite U.S. and Iraqi units are still hunting down key terrorist leaders and technicians. There's enough intel now to track these guys.
So thank you Poland. You are not running, like the Spanish did after the March 11 terrorist attack in Madrid. Poland fought until they weren't needed and victory was in sight. And Georgia's experience shows that our allies who are also Russia's neighbors help us more by being too tough to push around in their own neighborhood.
So yes, the Coalition dwindles. But that is because the enemy threat is dwindling faster.
