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Other Conflicts
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Current Operations

• U.S. Service Members Heading Toward Gulf Region AFPS 08 Jan 2003-- Thousands of American service members are deploying to the U.S. Central Command area of operations.
• USS Shiloh make Australia port visits 7th Fleet News 08 Jan 2003-- Sailors aboard USS Shiloh (CG 67) visited Fremantle and Perth, Australia, recently during the cruiser's current Western Pacific deployment.
• Flying Nightmares Rock the Afghan Skies Marine Corps News 08 Jan 2003-- Afghanistan(June 7, 2003) -- The Marines of Marine Attack Squadron 513, from Yuma, Ariz., arrived in Bagram, Afghanistan, in early October 2002. More than 150 Marines, and an undisclosed number of AV-8B Harrier aircraft, deployed to the region in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The squadron is the first of land-based Harriers serving in direct support of the War on Terrorism. The Harriers provide close-air support; armed escort for other aircraft and vehicle convoys; and provide air cover during helicopter insertions and extractions. According to the unit's commanding officer, Lieutenant Col. Jim A. Dixon, they have had the opportunity to support the ground forces on many occasions.

Other Conflicts

• RWANDA / PRISONERS VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- The Rwandan government says it will soon release about 40-thousand prisoners, including thousands of genocide suspects, to reduce jail overcrowding. The decision is angering many survivors of the 1994 mass killin
• IVORY COAST/ REBELS VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- Two rebel factions in western Ivory Coast have agreed to join peace talks that are scheduled to begin in Paris next week. The decision by the two rebel groups is raising hopes of ending the four-month-old rebellion in the West African country
• U-S-SUDAN ENVOY VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- President Bush's special envoy for Sudan, John Danforth, returns to the region in a few days for talks aimed at boosting Kenyan-led mediation efforts between the Sudanese government and southern rebels. The Sudan peace talks are due to resume in Kenya next week
• SRI LANKA TALKS VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- The Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels say they made progress on rehabilitating war-ravaged parts of the country - despite a dispute over disarming rebel groups. The development came on the third day of peace talks at a resort outside Bangkok
• EGYPT / ISRAEL VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, says it is up to Britain to press Israel to allow Palestinian participation in proposed peace talks in London and Cairo. Mr. Maher met in Cairo Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's national security adviser to explore how to revive peace efforts
• FRANCE / IVORY COAST VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- Ivory Coast's President, Laurent Gbagbo, has told a French newspaper that he wants to to come to an agreement with rebels who control the northern and western parts of the country. Mr. Gbagbo's comments come just a week before the French government is scheduled to host Ivory Coast peace talks

Defense Policy / Programs

• White House Daily Briefing White House 08 Jan 2003
• PENTAGON/SPECIAL OPS VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- America's elite commando forces are poised to get more authority, money, manpower and equipment under a Pentagon plan designed to bolster the U-S effort to fight global terrorism.
• COSSA DRAFT VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- Congressman Charles Rangel says he will introduce a bill to revive the military draft to make U-S families share the sacrifice in the event of war with Iraq. The New York Democrat opposes war with Iraq, and he said Tuesday that today's all-volunteer professional military has too many soldiers from poor and minority communities. In his words, "there is a glaring absence of the affluent." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld immediately criticized Mr. Rangel's proposal, saying the needs of the Pentagon are being met with volunteers. The United States ended the draft in 1973, after withdrawing from Vietnam
• Race, Class, and the Draft VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- As the specter of war with Iraq looms over the new session of the U-S Congress, one representative has proposed re-instituting the draft. requiring all young people, regardless of their gender, race, or class, to serve in the U-S Military. Of the 535 members of Congress, just one has a child in the military. Congressman Charles Rangel of New York says if all young people had to serve, lawmakers might not be so willing to go to war. VOA's Maura Farrelly reports on an argument that's raising familiar questions about the racial and class composition of America's voluntary armed forces
• NAVY TO CHRISTEN NEW GUIDED-MISSILE DESTROYER 08 Jan 2003-- The Chung-Hoon, the Navy's newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, will be christened Jan. 11, 2003, during a 10 a.m. CDT ceremony at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Miss.
• Blue Angels Commence Winter Training Navy Newsstand 08 Jan 2003-- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, made its annual deployment to Naval Air Facility (NAF) El Centro, Calif., to prepare for the 2003 show season. The 10-week winter training concludes in early March after the team completes a minimum of 120 flights during a rigorous six-days-a-week, three-flights-per-day schedule.
• NAVAIR North Island Depot inducts first CH-53 for Integrated Maintenance Concept program NAVAIR 08 Jan 2003-- Naval Air Depot North Island has inducted its first Marine CH-53 helicopter into the Integrated Maintenance Concept program. And since early December, everything is going as planned, noted Ron Cobb, deputy program manager for the CH-53 and H-1 helicopter programs at the Depot.

News Reports

• Balkan Trouble Spots VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- prominent U-S scholar on the Balkans Wednesday argued that independence for Kosovo -- the key objective of that territory's ethnic Albanian majority-- would have destabilizing effects throughout the southern Balkans
• ZIMBABWE / POLITICS VOA 08 Jan 2002 -- South Africa's labor minister is in Harare for what is seen as a visit to assess the political situation in Zimbabwe. Membathisi Mdladlana is to meet with government, political and labor leaders
• THE YEAR IN THE WAR ON TERRORISM VOA 08 Jan 2003-- Al-Qaida, the terrorist network responsible for the September 11th, 2001, attacks in New York and outside Washington, no longer has a safe haven in Afghanistan. Its leaders are either dead or on the run. But al-Qaida is not out of business. Terror cells around the world continue to plot and carry out acts of sudden violence. The last year has seen terror bombings in Mombassa, Kenya; Bali, Indonesia; Karachi, Pakistan; Kabul, Afghanistan; Manila in the Philippines; and in Israel.