The Willing

[Jerry]

In addition to the United States and the Iraqi forces, military personnel from 26 other countries are currently on the ground in Iraq, helping to bring peace and security, working on reconstruction projects, and engaging in humanitarian missions throughout the country. This is a tribute to those thousands of military men and women from around the world, some of them well-known, others less so, but all doing good work for the future of Iraq.

Albania

Albanian troops muster at the Mother Teresa Airport in Tirana before embarking for Iraq. More.
We are a supporter of U.S. efforts in the Middle East. This reflects the real transformation my country has gone through in the last few years. We went from a nation consumed by security and an economic crisis, by the collapse of state institutions, to a country that is now capable of contributing to global security and international initiatives. Albania has matured greatly. This came about with the assistance of America and several international institutions. So we take national pride in our ability to give back and foster democracy in other parts of the world. - Albania's socialist Prime Minister Fatos Nano

[Jerry]

Armenia


Armenian troops parade on the way to Iraq.

[Jerry]

Australia


On patrol in Baghdad.

Australian military forces participated with just cause, in an action properly based in international law, which resulted in the liberation of an oppressed people. - Prime Minister John Howard

[Jerry]

Azerbaijan

Azeri and American troops are protecting the vital Haditha Dam from terrorist attacks and sabotage

[Jerry]

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnian troops of a unit comprising Muslims, Croats and Serbs, heading to Iraq.

Defense Minister Nikola Radovanovic said [Bosnia] has a moral obligation to help in Iraq after all the international assistance it received during the conflict of the 1990s in the Balkans.

[Jerry]

Bulgaria

Bulgarians on patrol (Imad al-Khuzaei, Reuters).

[Jerry]

Czech Republic

Czech Military Police provide security for the opening ceremony of the new Police Academy in Basra.

I think it's not by chance that the idea of confronting evil may have found more support in [eastern European] countries that have had a recent experience with totalitarian systems compared with other European countries that haven't had the same sort of recent experience. - Former President Vaclav Havel

[Jerry]

Denmark

On patrol.

[Jerry]

El Salvador

The fourth contingent from El Salvador embarks for Iraq in March 2005

One of his friends was dead, 12 others lay wounded and the four soldiers still left standing were surrounded and out of ammunition. So Salvadoran Cpl. Samuel Toloza said a prayer, whipped out his knife and charged the Iraqi gunmen. In one of the only known instances of hand-to-hand combat in the Iraq conflict, Cpl. Toloza stabbed several attackers swarming around a comrade. The stunned assailants backed away momentarily, just as a relief column came to the unit's rescue

[Jerry]

Estonia

Estonian troops patrolling Gazalia Village, a 15-kilometer section of road in the heart of Western Baghdad, known as an insurgent a hot spot.

Estonian Army Capt. Neeme Brus, a media relations officer with Multi-National Corps - Iraq, said Estonia knows the value of freedom and the need to fight terrorism here, before the fight ends up in their own back yard. "We have to prove that we are capable military partners for Americans and other nations in the coalition. We want to be considered as a serious nation when it comes to international security."

[Jerry]

Georgia

Company A, 13th Battalion prepares for their part of the parade to celebrate Georgian Independence Day in Baghdad

[Jerry]

Iraq
An Iraqi soldier of Special Iraqi Forces flashes the 'V' sign for victory as he returns to his base in Al-Saqr Camp, south of Baghdad

[Jerry]

Italy

An Italian soldier adjusts her protective goggles before her convoy departed from their base on the outskirts of Nasiriya in this January 17

"We are proud of you, not just because you are doing good for this country in helping it in economic and sociopolitical development, but because you are here to do something more important: to demonstrate that Italy is a nation capable of bringing the principles of rights and civilization to the world." - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to Italian troops in Iraq

[Jerry]

Japan

A young Iraqi boy waves to Japanese army soldiers as they drive past in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, February 14, 2005

[Jerry]

Kazakhstan

Kazah soldier teaches Iraqi troops how to disarm explosives.

[Jerry]

Lithuania

Coalition officers, including a Lithuanian, dining with a local agricultural committee while discussing reconstruction projects.

[Jerry]

Macedonia

On patrol

[Jerry]

Mongolia

Command hand-over in Mongolian Contingent, 25 February 2005 in Al Hilla

The last time Mongolian soldiers were in Iraq was in 1258. They destroyed Baghdad then. Now, the Mongolian military has 173 soldiers of the 150th Elite Peacekeeping Battalion in Hillah, Iraq.

[Jerry]

Netherlands

On patrol

[Jerry]

Norway

Inspecting local antiquities