The following (except the U.S. levels) is collected from: Bush's disappearing alliance. The Boston Globe gave no figure for U.S. troops or mercenaries; my sources for the U.S. levels are below.
Combined with the info below the fold, this indicates the total coalition force to be approximately 345,700, of which 335,000 are U.S. Military or paid for by the Pentagon. Thus 97% of the coalition troops are provided by our government. Some of the US-hired contractors may not be considered mercenaries, but all of the contractors are supporting our military effort and doing jobs that our military would have fulfilled in past wars.
Estimated Troops in Iraq, 11/2007
nation | present | max | plan |
U.S. | 180,000* | 180,000 | stay some undefined course |
US contractors | 155,000** | 155,000 | stay as long as the money is good |
Britain | 5,500 | 40,000 | will withdraw 2,500 'by early 2008' |
Korea | 1,200 | 3,600 | will withdraw all by 1/08 |
Poland | 900 | 2,500 | withdraw by end of year |
Australia | 550 | 2,000 | withdraw |
Denmark | 'handful' | 460 | withdrawn in 2007 |
Latvia | 'handful' | 136 | withdrawn 6/07 |
Italy | 0 | 3,200 | withdrawn 11/06 |
Spain | 0 | 1,300 | withdrawn 4/04 |
Japan | 0 | 600 | withdrawn 7/06 |
An Aug. 15, 2007 State Department report listed Latvia, Britain, South Korea, Japan and Denmark among the 25 countries with forces in Iraq. All of those countries have announced their plans to withdraw.
Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, and Tonga withdrew their respective troops from Iraq in 2004. Several coalition members withdrew their troops after Iraq's first elections in 2005. Hungary, Portugal, Singapore, Norway, Ukraine, and the Netherlands announced their withdrawals during 2005; Slovakia followed them by the end of January 2006.
[end of info from boston.com article]
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* estimated between 160 and 200 thousand in U.S. quietly, dramatically increasing Iraq troop levels http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...
** "There are disputes about the exact number of contractors in Iraq, but it is estimated to be between 130,000 and 180,000 U.S.-paid private military contractors, compared to 157,000 U.S. military personnel." from Number of private contractors killed in Iraq and Afghanistan passes 1,000 http://en.wikinews.org/...
Non-US Forces in Iraq http://www.globalsecurity.org/... indicates the following contributions as of Feb, 2007:
Romania 865; El Salvador 380; Georgia 300; Azerbaijan 150; Bulgaria 150; Fiji 150 (under UN auspices); Albania 120; Czech Republic 100; Mongolia 100; and seven other nations with less than 50 soldiers each.