Critics of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) accuse the United States of ignoring international opinion and sidelining American allies at a time when cooperation is most vital. On the other hand, hardline hawks assert the United States doesn’t need allies to win the GWOT. Both positions betray alarming ignorance about what really is going on.

For starters, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan receives support from 36 countries, including the US. Roughly twenty thousand American troops are stationed in Afghanistan alongside the ISAF, whose complement includes approximately eight thousand soldiers from Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Britain, and the US. Over one thousand of those troops come just from France. In addition, the United Nations played a very active role in organizing the recent election in Afghanistan.

The coalition of the willing in Iraq currently numbers 29 countries, counting the United States. The Multi-National Force-Iraq includes Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Tongo, and the Ukraine. Even New Zealand, although it opposed the war, sent a contingent to help with reconstruction,as did Guatemala and Singapore. As of late October, the MNF, as it is known in-country, totaled roughly twenty-four thousand troops. In addition, Germany and Jordan have trained hundreds of Iraqi police officers. Further international cooperation comes from the United Nations, whose envoy Lakhdar Brahimi helped formulate the current Iraqi interim government, and the European Union, which recently pledged over $50 million to assist with moving Iraq forward.

It should be especially noted that while opponents of the liberation of Iraq were accusing the US of “going it alone,” troops from Britain, Bulgaria, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Thailand, and the Ukraine were being killed.

In the face of casualties, kidnappings, and domestic disapproval, nations like the Philippines and Spain have withdrawn from the coalition, but others have stood firm. Despite headlines to the contrary, the prime minister of Hungary actually wants to extend the deployment of Hungarian troops until after the January elections, and Georgia has decided to send roughly seven hundred additional troops. On November 5, the Czechs renewed their commitment and will stay until at least the end of February 2005, and several eastern European states intend to remain until the summer of next year. Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy has been particularly resilient, as have Australian Prime Minister Howard and, of course, Prime Minister Blair.

President Bush has also managed to unite much of the world in countering nuclear proliferation. The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which over 60 nations support, resulted not only in the disarmament of Libya’s weapons of mass destruction programs, following a multilateral interdiction operation, but the dismantling of A.Q. Khan’s black market network as well, which specialized in nuclear weapons components. The navies of Australia, France, and Japan recently joined the US off the coast of Tokyo in the latest of a dozen PSI exercises, undoubtedly as a message to North Korea. As discussed at length during the presidential debates, the US is currently working on six-party negotiations with North Korea. The Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, to which 20 nations excluding the US have pledged $10 billion over the next decade, is also a noteworthy diplomatic triumph, as is the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1540, criminalizing the proliferation of WMDs.

Organizing a broad coalition of the willing to shut down Libyan weapons programs, cooperating with Britain, Germany, and Italy to bust a worldwide black market ring that was a threat to global peace, working with the UN towards democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and uniting countries as far apart as El Salvador and Singapore in common cause – that’s going it alone, the American way.