Coalition of the Willing Medal Count

No better single event represents the peaceful coming together of the international community than the Olympic Games. I thought it would be interesting to track how the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" nations do opposed to the rest of the world as far as winning Olympic medals (gold, silver and bronze).

In the Olympics it is a fairly true statement to say that the more affluent nations tend to do better in winning medals. It would be equally safe to say that the more democratic nations tend to value freedom more and are thus more willing to put national treasure and blood at risk to secure freedom both at home and in foreign lands. The Coalitition of the Willing has put "skin in the game" to free over 26 million Iraqis from the brutal rule of Saddam Hussein. Certain Democrats would have you believe that we are "going it alone" or acting "unilaterally" but I think this medal count helps illustrate how international our support in Iraq truly is.

It should be noted that there are 202 nations participating in the Olympics and 31 nations who committed troops to Iraq and were part of the Coalition of the Willing (I did not count Spain because of semi obvious reasons).

The "coalition of the Willing" nations include: the United Kingdom, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Albania, Moldova, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Estonia, Kazakstan, Mongolia, Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Azerbaijan, Georgia, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Honduras, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States of America.

I am not sayin that all these nations shouldered an equal burden in the liberation of Iraq but just as it is the "spirit of the games' that is important at the Olympics - so too it is the commitment to freedom and fighting tyranny that is important in the "Coalition of the Willing".