Coalition shrinkage

Spain said Tuesday it was withdrawing much of its diplomatic staff from Iraq for security reasons, becoming the third coalition country in recent weeks to downgrade its presence in Baghdad or leave altogether.

The Spanish Embassy will remain open but with minimal staffing and a significant number of its 29-member staff is being pulled out, a Foreign Ministry official said.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Ana Palacio was quoted as saying these staffers would return shortly.

"We have taken staff out of Baghdad temporarily given that it is a very complicated moment," the private Spanish news agency Europa Press quoted Palacio as saying in Berlin where she was attending a German-Spanish summit.

...Spain thus becomes the third member of the coalition to downgrade its presence in recent weeks. Spain has a much higher profile in the coalition than the Dutch and the Bulgarians.

Spain, which has some 1,300 soldiers based in Iraq, was one of the strongest supporters of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq despite massive public opposition at home. article


Not to mention Red Cross and U.N. personnel, Doctors Without Borders, and the last I heard, on October 29, Thai troops were coming out if it got "more dangerous". I don't know what they consider more dangerous, but that was before the Chinook was downed.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.