Wonkette

Wonkette’s Old Europe correspondent writes in to take issue with our characterization of the rag-tag band of underdogs that constitute the “coalition” in Iraq. On Tuesday, White House spokesbot Scott McClellan mounted a vigorous defense against a reporter’s doubts about the cohesiveness of the group; we thought it was less than reassuring:

Hmmm. Yes. The mighty Italian, Japanese, Polish and Portuguese armies. 0 and 4 in their last four wars. Not so much a coalition of the willing as a whole team of people picked last to play kickball. [Wonkette]

But now we have been schooled. The Portuguese are no pussies. They’re just cautious:

Now, the thing is — we rightly gave the colonies their independence after 1974. . . We retreated, but voluntarily. Granted — if the war went on, we’d eventually have been kicked out . . . [b]ut technically speaking, we didn’t lose the colonial wars. So I’d describe more acurately our record in the 20th century as 1-0-1.

And at least they’re not French.