No more troops from El Salvador in Iraq

The last of El Salvador's troops in Iraq supporting the US coalition returned Saturday:
SAN SALVADOR (AFP) — The last 200 Salvadoran soldiers deployed to Iraq as part of former US president George W. Bush's "coalition of the willing" returned home Saturday, ending that country's five-and-a-half-year commitment.

Soldiers from the Cuscatlan battalion arrived at the Comalapa air force base southeast of San Salvador and waved Salvadoran and Iraqi flags as they boarded trucks bound for the capital.

The trucks first stopped at a statue of Jesus Christ, at the entrance to the city, where a military bishop held a thanksgiving mass.

"It was an enormous experience ... working shoulder to shoulder with other countries toward one objective: stability and peace in Iraq," battalion commander Cesar Acosta told AFP.

Five Salvadoran soldiers were killed and 20 wounded during their time in Iraq.

Stationed in Al Kut, on the Tigris River near the Iranian border, the Salvadoran contingent was attached to Polish soldiers and was chiefly tasked with building schools, hospitals, roads and water and electricity infrastructure.

The small Central American country, with a population of about six million, was the only Latin American country with troops in Iraq after the Dominican Republic and Honduras pulled their troops out in 2004, following Spain's lead.

The pullout reflects the improving situation in Iraq, and the conclusion of the terms of two very close allies, Tony Saca and George W. Bush.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The colors of the Batallon Cuscatlan have waved over Babylon.

I am proud of that.

Let them now sing songs, bad and good, pro and con, about the Cuscatlan.

They are now part of world history.

If not see Paul Bremer the III's book,

around page 375 o 325, the cuscatlan is mentioned as going to war.

YEAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
El-Visitador said…
I love it how the frenchie AFP writes coalition of the willing in between quotes.

As if.

Here is the list of the proud, the defenders of freedom in Irak:

El Salvador
United States
United Kingdom
Australia
Romania
Estonia
Bulgaria
Moldova
Albania
Ukraine
Denmark
Czech Republic
South Korea
Japan
Tonga
Azerbaijan
Singapore
Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Macedonia
Latvia
Poland
Kazakhstan
Armenia
Mongolia
Georgia
Slovakia
Lithuania
Italy
Norway
Hungary
Netherlands:
Portugal
New Zealand
Thailand
Philippines
Honduras
Dominican Republic
Spain
Nicaragua
Iceland

No frogs, no surrender monkeys among the willing. That's for sure.
Anonymous said…
Anybody would like to mention the hundreds of thousands of Irakis who died and the more than four thousand Americans and thousands more from the "coalition of the willing". Or mention the mere fact the they died in vain by invating a country which was not involved in 911 and worst of all under cherry picked intel. and under false pretenses. In my dictionary, this is called genocides and/or a war crime. I am not proud of that.