The United States is backing away from efforts to pressure European allies to join or remain in the American-led military force in Iraq and instead is working to coax those countries into participating in other initiatives in the region, according to senior Bush administration and European officials. The shift is occurring after 15 countries — including Spain, Poland, and Hungary — have either scaled back their already relatively small force levels in Iraq, announced pullouts, or withdrawn their troops altogether in the past year, despite the growing strength of the insurgency. Full
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