ThinkProgress caught Chris Matthews' reaction to President Bush's claim that there are 36 nations with troops on the ground today in Iraq. And we're curious too. What the hell is the president talking about? Which countries are these? There are two countries with a real troop presence in Iraq: the US and the UK. And the Brits make up only a tiny fraction of the overall 'coalition' force. Early on there were Spanish, Italians, Poles and a lot of other countries -- not with a lot of troops but with enough to give some token international participation. But pretty much all of those countries have left now.

I know in the past the White House used to inflate these numbers by including token commitments from former US Pacific Islands protectorates. Ten guys from Micronesia. Three mechanics from the Solomon Islands.

In a lot of cases the administration has just opened up the diplomatic cookie jar to bargain for a few soldiers from countries with acute need for American help in order to puff up these numbers.

But again, this is 2007. I doubt the White House just came up with this number out of the blue. I'm sure there's some very strained and feeble argument and data behind. But I'd really like to hear it. Anyone know who these 36 counties are?

Late Update: This is the best the AP could come up with ...

There may well be 36 nations contributing to the cause, but the overwhelming majority of troops come from the United States. For example, Albania has 120 soldiers there and Bulgaria has 150 non-combat troops in Iraq. Bush visited both nations this summer as a thank you.

Okay, that's four. 32 to go.