Denmark and the Coalition of the Willing

Many people don't know this, but Denmark was one of five countries directly involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. That being said, Denmark's 300 soldiers only made up about one-tenth of a percent of the total invasion force. The other four include the United States (250,000 troops), the United Kingdom (45,000), Australia (2,000), and Poland (194). Currently, Danish forces mainly operate under the command of United Kingdom forces in Basra. To date, they have had seven deaths, five killed in combat.

Currently Denmark has about 460 soldiers in Iraq, although in February Prime Minister Ander Fogh Rasmussen announced that Danish troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by August of 2007. Polls taken in November of 2006 by the Jyllands-Posten found that only 29% of those polled supported keeping troops in Iraq, while 60% were against it. In many ways, the Danish involvement has played out similarly to that of the United kingdom, although Rasmussen has not paid as high of a price as Tony Blair.