Friday, December 19, 2008

Lithuania Leaves Iraq



The coalition of the "willing" gets smaller every day. Quite frankly I wasn't even aware of the Lithuanian contribution to George Bush's tilting at middle-eastern windmills.God knows we will miss all 53 of them.Perhaps there's work in Georgia. As per the UPI :

"The remaining 53 members of the Lithuanian armed forces serving in Iraq concluded their mission there in a ceremony in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Lithuania had deployed around 100 military personnel to aid in the international effort in Iraq. Lithuanian officials in 2005 cut that deployment in half in the wake of the Dec. 15 general elections in Iraq.

Lithuanian forces provided training to Iraqi troops in combat triage, driver's training and how to identify improvised explosive devices, the U.S. military in Iraq said in a statement.

"To Iraq's benefit and through the Republic of Lithuania's efforts, you have helped to ensure a higher quality of life for all the people of Iraq," said U.S. commander Brig. Gen. Michael Ferriter.

The departure follows similar actions by scores of other coalition forces concluding their missions in Iraq as the U.N. mandate for international force expires at the end of December."

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