Operations
Other Conflicts
Defense Policy / Programs
News Reports

Current Operations

• AFGHANISTAN US VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Six U-S Air Force personnel in Afghanistan were killed late Sunday when their helicopter crashed while on a humanitarian mission. The accident is the worst air crash suffered by the U-S military since coalition forces entered Afghanistan more than a year ago.
• Six Airmen Die in Afghan Mercy Mission Crash; Valiant Strike Continues AFPS 24 Mar 2003 -- An Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed near Ghazni, Afghanistan, March 23, killing all aboard, said Combined Joint Task Force-180 officials in Bagram.
• Military Weather Forecasting VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- U.S. troops in Iraq will rely on accurate weather forecasts for every mission they attempt. Their information will come mainly from halfway around the world: the 28th Operational Weather Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, in South Carolina. The squadron is part of a sophisticated new weather prediction system put in place after the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

Other Conflicts

• Official Cites Lack of African Leadership as Block to Congo Peace Washington File 24 Mar 2003 -- During a March 20 meeting on conflict in the Great Lakes region, a senior U.S. Government official voiced frustration at the inability of African leaders to end the turmoil in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that is slowly but inexorably draining the region of resources and human capital.
• Peace process in Bougainville still needs nurturing - Annan UN News Centre 24 Mar 2003 -- While the peace process in Bougainville is stronger than ever, it still needs nurturing, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a report issued today on progress made by the United Nations mission to the island in Papua New Guinea.
• Annan strongly condemns 'cowardly massacre' in Kashmir UN News Centre 24 Mar 2003 -- Calling it a "cowardly act of terrorism," United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today strongly condemned yesterday's massacre of 24 people in Kashmir, including women and children.
• NIGERIA-UNREST VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- More foreign oil facilities are shutting down in Nigeria as a result of continuing ethnic violence in the country's Niger River Delta. The move is further cutting production from Nigeria, the world's sixth-largest producer of oil.
• NIGERIA / UNREST VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Ethnic fighting in Nigeria has prompted more foreign oil companies to shut down facilities in the Niger river delta.
• ACEH REBELS / DISARMAMENT VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Separatist rebels in Indonesia's northern province of Aceh have agreed to lay down their weapons as part of a peace deal signed with the Indonesian government in December. But guerrillas from the Free Aceh Movement are cautious.
• CHECHNYA / VOTE VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says the people of Chechnya, by voting in favor of a constitutional referendum on Sunday, have voted in favor of peace. Mr. Putin spoke after partial results released Monday indicated that more than 95 percent of voters approved the new constitution.
• KASHMIR KILLINGS VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- In Indian Kashmir, unidentified gunmen have killed 24 Hindus, including 11 women and two children. The attacks come hours after a Muslim separatist leader was murdered. It is the worst outbreak of violence in Kashmir since a new regional government took power six months ago.

Defense Policy / Programs

• ARMY NAMED EXECUTIVE AGENT FOR COMBATING IRAQ OIL FIRES 24 Mar 2003 -- The Department of Defense has designated the Army as Executive Agent for implementing plans to extinguish oil well fires and to assess the damage to oil facilities during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• White House Press Briefing White House 24 Mar 2003
• Transcript: Background Briefing on Budget Supplemental 25 Mar 2003 -- "We are about to release to Congress a supplemental request, and we are going to really push for prompt and full congressional passage."
• Hurry and wait AFPN 24 Mar 2003 -- More than 250 soldiers from the 720th Military Police Battalion based at Fort Hood, Texas, relax at the tent city here during a stop on their way to support contingency operations.
• Pilots face increasing ground threats AFPN 24 Mar 2003 -- Coalition pilots have not yet had to face the intense air defenses over Iraq they had to deal with during the Gulf War.
• Air Force offers special war news Web site AFPN 24 Mar 2003 -- The Air Force has a special Operation Iraqi Freedom Web site highlighting the service news and photos from forward-deployed locations covering Air Force support of the war in Iraq.
• Supplemental Calls for $62.6 Billion for Defense AFPS 25 Mar 2003 -- The defense portion of the fiscal 2003 emergency supplemental budget request is set at $62.6 billion.
• "Ringmasters" Net Fourth Drug Bust Navy NewStand 24 Mar 2003 -- In late January, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 48 Detachment 2, the "Ringmasters," operating from USS John L. Hall (FFG 32), participated in their fourth counter narcotics bust.
• Stealth fighters use new munitions to hit Baghdad ACCNS 24 Mar 2003 --U. S. Air Force F-117 stealth fighters struck five strategic targets in Baghdad March 21 using a new precision-guided munition, the EGBU-27, as Coalition forces turned the Operation Iraqi Freedom air campaign into high gear.
• Nepali special forces team bolsters security ACCNS 24 Mar 2003 -- Security at this forward deployed location has taken on a formidable new dimension. After adding layers of concertina wire, K-9s and four contingents of law enforcement, officials at the British installation have added a regiment nothing short of legendary.
• 2/3 Marines become cold-weather warriors USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- Capt. Jason Perry is familiar with snow. Growing up as a kid he built snowmen from the small amounts that would fall during the winter months in his hometown of Flat Rock, N.C.
• 'New and improved' Marines jump from SASSY to STRATIS USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- We are always looking for ways to improve things. We are constantly bombarded with "new and improved" things as well. And, much to the marketers delight, we buy the "new and improved" stuff in hopes that it will make our lives a little bit better and our work a little bit easier.
• Jungle hide-and-seek Marines learn tracking skills USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- The art of tracking is a skill man has used for many years. The Jungle Warfare Training Center began a new course recently to train servicemembers how to use this ancient skill to their advantage.
• CJTF-HOA Commander and Djiboutian armed forces Commander discuss counterterrorism USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- A group of American and coalition military officials, including Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler, the commander of Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, and Maj. Gen. Fathi Ahmed Hussein, the commander of Djibouti's armed forces, gathered together March 17 to discuss ways to improve counterterrorism measures in the Horn of Africa.
• Taking down a town USMC News 24 Mar 2003 -- Marines cluster in groups of two and three filling magazines with rounds. Grenades are passed out and hung from gear along with green, red, and yellow smoke grenades. Splattered paint speckles flak jackets, canteen covers and even exposed skin - the relic of past battles.
• Vandenberg security forces respond to protesters AFSPC 24 Mar 2003 -- Security forces here responded to nearly 50 protesters at a base gate March 22 and arrested three. Another group of military supporters gathered at the gate to lend their encouragement to the base and its people.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 24 Mar 2003
• SHAPE News Summary Analysis SHAPE 24 Mar 2003
• TURKEY / KURDS VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- In what some analysts see as a blow to Turkey's democratic reform process, the country's constitutional court banned the largest pro-Kurdish party earlier this month, saying it was acting as a front for Kurdish separatist rebels.
• ASIAN PNEUMONIA / PROBE VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- U-S health authorities say a previously unknown virus might be the cause of the Asian pneumonia that has killed 17 people worldwide as of Monday.
• ZIMBABWE / POLITICS VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- Thousands of people gathered in central Harare Monday for a demonstraton organized by by the ruling ZANU-P-F party, against the city's mayor,a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. The demonstration was the first in more than a year that was not interferred with by police.
• BURMA / U-N ENVOY VOA 24 Mar 2003 -- A U-N human-rights envoy suspended his mission to Burma after finding, what he said was, a bugging device in a room where he was conducting confidential interviews with political prisoners.