Other developments

  • Toronto Star and Britain’s Sunday Telegraph reported that they found documents in the bombed-out headquarters of Iraq’s intelligence service that appeared to show that Saddam’s regime met with al-Qaida in 1998 and sought a meeting with Osama bin Laden.
  • Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said U.S. troops would stay in Iraq and Afghanistan until stable democratic governments have taken control.
  • The Pentagon is sending teams of Iraqi exiles with professional experience to Baghdad to revive government ministries.
  • The Iranian government said it wasn’t seeking “friction” with Washington over Iraq’s future government.
  • Amnesty International said it was disturbed by a Norwegian newspaper report that included a photo purportedly showing U.S. soldiers escorting three naked Iraqi men through a Baghdad park. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Owens of the Central Command said he couldn’t confirm the report, but if true, the soldiers would be disciplined.