The Icelandic ‘Contingent’

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It just about epitomizes the President’s speech last night. One of the purported 36 coalition nations is Iceland, whose “contingent” to Iraq consists of a single soldier in Baghdad whose primary responsibility is as a media representative. To NATO’s disappointment, Iceland is pulling that one soldier as of October 1. You can’t make this stuff up.

We still haven’t managed to figure out how the President’s math gets him to 36 nations in the coalition. But whatever the number, it will be minus one when a single Icelander heads home in a couple of weeks.

Late Update: TPM Reader EF points out that Iceland doesn’t even have a formally constituted military, which the CIA World Fact Book confirms. The lone Icelander is a member of the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit. Calling him a soldier may be overstating matters.

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