Washington Negotiates Joining Multinational Force in Iraq - 2003-10-16

Washington is negotiating with 5 or 6 countries about joining a multinational force in Iraq, however, it is still unclear whether they will send troops and when this will take place. Donald Rumsfeld stated on Thursday that deploying troops from Turkey or other countries will take time as U.S. military commanders, the Iraqi Governing Council, and the U.S. must agree on how to deploy the forces. Rumsfeld also mentioned that the morale of U.S. soldiers is generally good. He expressed this opinion while a non-scientific survey from a U.S. military publication indicated that one in three members of the U.S. armed forces says their morale is not good and that the war against Iraq has been worthless. Meanwhile, Iraqi police arrested 12 followers of a Shia cleric who criticizes the U.S. presence in Iraq. A Reuters report indicated that supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr were arrested for using a municipal building in Baghdad to run a separate government. In another incident, an explosion near the city of Haditha in northwestern Iraq damaged an oil pipeline. It is still unclear whether this incident was the result of sabotage or not.