Of course I know that we have British and Australian forces that have troops present in Iraq. I thought that I heard the there were Swedish and Italian troops present. Velkyn told me that he heard that South Korea is sending 700 Medics and Engineers. And that Japan is considering sending troops in as well.

Has anyone heard of any other troops from any other nations that are present in Iraq?

Uh...I've heard of BRITISH troops and American troops in combat. Not sure if the Australian troops are engaging Iraqui army divisions. The only military leaders giving 'official' coalition newsbriefs, that I've seen are UK and USA.

Spain is part of the coalition, as best I can tell, but apparently will be helping with humanitarian efforts.

I think most of this can be confirmed at various news sites like CNN etc.

Australia has a naval presence there and I heard they intercepted Iraqi ships that were loaded with mines to mine the gulf.

At a press conference yesterday, or the day before, I did see some high level military officials from countries other than those with troops on the ground in Iraq. Supposedly they are working at command and control facility throughout the Middle East. They were European, but I'm ashamed to admit, I can't remember which nations they were from.

The Australians have several ships in the area and have stopped mines being laid and give covering fire to the British troops landing on the beach.

Our air force has dropped some bombs but are mainly used as guard duties for the mid air tankers and to the spy planes. We also have some spy planes (orions) patrolling the seas.

Our army is mainly (all?) SAS troops that are "deep" within Iraq carrying out "secret missions (sabotage?) and observation duties. The same duties that they carried out to very good effect in Afghanistan. Understandably these troops would not have press with them and therfore will not feature in the CNN or FOX firework displays.

We have not sent many troops, but what we have sent is of a very VERY high quality. Trust me we are not there to peel potatoes ;) And do not forget that if this all goes pear shaped and there is a united Muslim backlash that the worlds biggest Muslim country is sat just a few miles of our northern border. :(

So obviously we are also undoubtedly busy taking precautions protecting ourselves and our other new neighbour "east Timor" whom we liberated from the shackles of some fanatical Muslim extremists causing terror and persecution, who where backed by the Indonesian government. So if you think about it we have a lot to do and are probably streched beyond our capacity.

The SAS units that Wellard was refereeing to have been on forward recon deep in Iraq. They have been identifying bunkers and concealed installations and either taking care of business themselves are calling in the planes to do it for them. According to reports they have been in at least 4 heated exchanges / skirmishes and they took out a missile silo last night. Thus far they have avoided taking casualties themselves.

From all reports the US was very impressed with the performance of this crack unit in Afghanistan, and when it came to asking for Australian support, these guys were at the top of the shopping list.

I saw this too, Ronn, and one of them, I am pretty sure was from Sweden and the other, I hesitate to say. but I think he said he was Dutch.

Neither Sweden (anti-war) nor Italy(pro-war) has any troops in the Gulf.

Denmark has a conventional submarine in the Gulf and a frigate underway (currently in the Red Sea)

The international officers introduced at the press conference included a Dane and a Dutchman - but I'm not sure if Holland has any troops in the Gulf.

Thank you for clarifying that. They introduced them at the beginning and I was not fully paying atention when they first made the introductions. That is why it is good to come here and have these things cleared up.

As for Japan, I think that its against Japans constitution for it to send troops to war overseas. iirc I think it is policitaly backing the U.S. and Allies in the war.

That would be because you're in America Amber. ;) More a statement on media practices than anything else.

As usual the Aussies are in there kicking arse and not getting the international press. :( In WWII they spearheaded many movements in the western front. Numerically small but as Wellard said VERY high quality.

As far as 'official coalition newsbriefs' go:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/National/story_46972.asp
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/National/story_39908.asp
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/National/story_38533.asp

The officer, Lt Colonel Blom, is in charge of the Dutch patriot defence in Turkey. He had been granted permission to attent a meeting, not knowing that it was a press conference. We are just doing our duty as a member of NATO, and do not provide militairy support in Iraq in anyway.

[ 03-24-2003, 05:12 AM: Message edited by: Dreamer128 ]

Poland also has 200 troops in the Gulf, not sure if these are combat troops or more likely a support unit.

I've read that only US, UK, Australia, Denmark and Poland has troops in Iraq.
All other countries in the list we had some days ago support US but didnt send any troops.

Thanks for the articles and info, Hugh! I knew Australia had troops there, just not what they were doing.

<font color='white'> Borrowed from another message board-

Albania - committed to sending 70 troops

Australia - committed to sending 2000 troops

Poland - committed to sending 200 troops

Romania - committed to sending 278 troops

UK - committed to sending 45,000 troops
</font>

I heard on a story on Moran on NPR. Quite an amazing journalist and did work that is being quotes years later. Sounds like he was a groundbreaker. He will be missed. :(