By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Iraq would be divided into
three sectors patrolled by troops from at least 10 nations led
by the United States, Britain and Poland under a new postwar
stability plan, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. The
Bush administration official said 10 nations had so far offered
soldiers with expertise from medicine to mine-clearing for a
three-division force separate from the 135,000 combat troops
still in Iraq six weeks after a U.S.-led invasion.
The 10 volunteer states do not include France, Germany or
Russia, which were not invited to a planning meeting of 16
nations in London on Wednesday, said the official, who asked
not to be identified, in an interview with reporters.
"That is one view," he said crisply when asked if Paris,
Berlin and Moscow - outspoken opponents of an invasion that
overthrew Iraqi President Saddam Hussein - were being punished
and shut out of the postwar process. "Maybe they didn't
want to take part," he added.
The exact size of the new force has not been determined,
but the United States, Britain, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Spain,
Denmark, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Albania have offered
troops for the policing effort. The three future sectors of
Iraq have not yet been drawn up.
By Charles Aldinger . WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters)
Archived Articles | 05 May 2003 | EWR
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