29 Nations - Only 15,500 Troops

THE United States is having to organise temporary military task forces to plug the gaps in its Iraq garrison because allies round the world have promised only half of the 30,000 peacekeeping troops the Pentagon needs to ease the pressure on its overstretched army.

Foreign peacekeepers are due to start arriving in the next two weeks, but even when the 15,500 men pledged by 29 countries from Albania to the Ukraine are on the ground, there will not be enough of them to allow the planned rotation home of all combat-weary American units.

We needed a lot more than that.