The "Coalition of the Willing" Officially Turns Into the "Roster of Who's Left"

White House Scraps 'Coalition of the Willing' List

Fri Jan 21, 7:27 PM ET World - Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has scrapped its list of Iraq (news - web sites) allies known as the 45-member "coalition of the willing," which Washington used to back its argument that the 2003 invasion was a multilateral action, an official said on Friday.

The senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the White House replaced the coalition list with a smaller roster of 28 countries with troops in Iraq sometime after the June transfer of power to an interim Iraqi government.

The official could not say when or why the administration did away with the list of the coalition of the willing.

The coalition, unveiled on the eve of the invasion, consisted of 30 countries that publicly offered support for the United States and another 15 that did not want to be named as part of the group.


Can you spot the difference?

Coalition: Alliance--a formal agreement establishing an association or alliance between nations or other groups to achieve a particular aim

Roster: a list of names

--Grace