POLAND AND THE COALITION

Bush overstated the case when he corrected Kerry by saying that the senator forgot to mention that Poland supplied forces when the invasion began. Kerry said there were three countries that did -- Britain, Australia and the United States -- and Bush said, "actually he forgot Poland."

Poland later supplied troops and commanded a zone in Iraq. But, except for a few commandos, Polish troops were not part of the original ground invasion.

And though Bush said there are 30 countries in the coalition, he neglected to say that about a half-dozen have recently withdrawn their troops.

Related Links

For The Record: Few Factual Errors, but Truth at Times Got Stretched (Washington Post, Oct. 1)

Non-U.S. Forces in Iraq (GlobalSecurity.org)