Iraqis not sorry to see Georgians go

VANO SHLAMOV/AFP/Getty Images

The departure of 2,000 Georgian troops from Iraq — the third largest presence after the U.S. and Great Britain — obviously poses a challenge for what’s left of the coalition of the willing. Most of the Georgians were posted to a series of anti-smuggling checkpoints in Wassit Province, near the Iranian border.

While U.S. commanders described Georgia as an “important and valued partner,” the locals don’t seem to broken up about their departure:

I do not think that the departure of the Georgian soldiers will have an impact on the situation in the province,” [Wassit Governor] Latif Hamad said in a telephone interview. “There were always language and poor performance problems. Our security forces can fill any vacuum.”

Local Iraqis were happy to see the Georgians leave. They complained that the Georgians, most of who could speak little English or Arabic, were rude and disrespectful.

“They did not try to give us services. Instead, they were a source of annoyance by delaying us at their checkpoints and mocking the simple locals,” said Salim Ali, a 45-year-old farmer.

Georgia mistakenly anticipated that its help in Iraq would compel the U.S. to intervene during its time of crisis. I wouldn’t be surprised if some other coalition partners started dropping out soon.