Operations
Other Conflicts
Defense Policy / Programs
News Reports

Current Operations

• Gator rumbles with excitement of home Marine Corps News 23 May 2003-- USS Saipan (LHA 2) was abuzz with the Marine back load - bringing back Marines and their equipment and making necessary preparations for the trip back home.
• FH-3: 'Ground Zero for Nation Building' Navy Newsstand 23 May 2003-- Lieutenant Dallas Braham, a Navy Nurse and reservist who was recalled to active duty in February from his day charge nurse duties at Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans, has spent the past 11 weeks as part of Navy Medicine's historical Fleet Hospital 3 (FH-3).

• RFE/RL Afghanistan Report, Vol 2, Number 17 23 May 2003 -- A VICTORY FOR KARZAI OR A MASKED PLEA FOR HELP? / AFGHAN LEADER CALLS FOR A MEETING OF 12 GOVERNORS... / ...AND THREATENS TO RESIGN, REVEAL OBSTRUCTIONISTS... / ...AND CONDEMNS ATTACKS IN RIYADH AND CASABLANCA / AFGHAN WARLORDS PROMISE TO DELIVER CUSTOMS REVENUES... / ...AS AFGHAN OFFICIALS WARN OF MORE CONFLICT IF FUNDS ARE NOT RECEIVED / U.S. ENVOY MEETS WITH VISITING GOVERNORS / GOVERNORS AND WARLORDS AGREE TO OBEY LAWS / FULL TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL OF THE AFGHAN TRANSITIONAL ADMINISTRATION / KARZAI APPOINTS DOSTUM AS SPECIAL ADVISER... / ...AS HIS RIVAL IN THE NORTH QUITS ONE OF HIS POSTS / AFGHANISTAN RESHUFFLES GOVERNORS... / SIX KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN AS REGIONAL LEADER CAPTURES GOSFANDI... / ...AND LEADS KABUL TO SUMMON RIVAL WARLORDS / AFGHAN DAILY CRITICIZES KABUL'S FAILURE TO HALT CLASHES / INVESTIGATOR OF CLASH BETWEEN WAHDAT AND JAMIAT-E ISLAMI KILLED... / ...TWO UN GUARDS AND THREE OTHERS REPORTEDLY KILLED IN CONTINUED WAHDAT-JAMIAT FIGHTING / SECTARIAN VIOLENCE IN AFGHANISTAN'S BAGHLAN PROVINCE / IISS REPORT PAINTS A GLOOMY PICTURE FOR AFGHANISTAN... / ...AND SAYS PASHTUNS NEED TO BE EMPOWERED AND EXTERNAL ACTORS CONTROLLED IN AFGHANISTAN / THIS WEEK IN AFGHANISTAN'S HISTORY

Other Conflicts

• U.S. Expects Israeli Government to Accept Road Map Washington File 23 May 2003 -- A senior U.S. official said the Bush administration expects the Israeli government to accept the road map leading to a Palestinian state and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. s
• Text: Powell, Rice Acknowledge Israeli Concerns about Roadmap Washington File 23 May 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice issued a statement on May 23 acknowledging that the Government of Israel has communicated to the United States its concerns about the roadmap for Middle East peace.
• ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS VOA 23 May 2003 -- Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon announced Friday that he is ready to accept the U-S backed "road map" to peace plan. Mr. Sharon says he will now present the plan to his Cabinet for approval.
• POWELL / FRANCE VOA 23 May 2003 -- U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday a new Middle East peace plan should not be open to major changes by Israelis or Palestinians. Mr. Powell spoke in Paris, at the end of a G-8 foreign ministers' meeting marked by conciliatory statements between top U-S and French diplomats.
• BUSH-MIDDLE EAST VOA 23 May 2003 -- President Bush said Friday he is exploring the possibility of a three-way meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers to try to expedite progress on the international "road map" for Middle East peace. Mr. Bush spoke after an agreement that apparently ends Israel's holdout against accepting the peace plan.
• Top UN officials head to northeastern DR of Congo to assess situation in Bunia UN News Centre 23 May 2003 -- Senior United Nations peacekeeping and humanitarian officials have arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to meet with top government officials and assess the situation in the country's bloodied northeastern town of Bunia, where an inter-ethnic power struggle has been raging for weeks.
• AFGHAN / POLITICS VOA 23 May 2003 -- Afghanistan's central government says it plans to replace all provincial finance and customs directors to make sure that regional governors pay millions of dollars in customs revenues to Kabul. Border provinces are being accused of withholding the money, making difficult for the central government to operate.
• Indonesian Offensive in Aceh VOA 23 May 2003 -- On Monday, Indonesian troops launched an offensive against rebels in the northern province of Aceh. The rebels are members of the Free Aceh Movement, called GAM.
• IVORY COAST DISPLACED VOA 23 May 2003 -- major challenge facing the power-sharing government in Ivory Coast is the plight of about 700-thousand internally-displaced people.
• IVORY COAST / YOUTH GROUPS (L-UPDATE) VOA 23 May 2003 -- Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has asked militant youth groups to cancel a demonstration planned for Saturday. The groups are calling for the disarmament of rebels. The march organizers say they will abide by the request, but other militant groups say they will soon start fighting against the power-sharing peace deal.
• CONGO / GREEK CYPRIOTS VOA 23 May 2003 -- The United Nations has evacuated the last remaining members of one of East Africa's oldest expatriate communities from Ituri province in war-torn northeastern Congo. Greek Cypriots from Congo are telling authorities about gruesome acts of cannibalism in the province.
• ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS VOA 23 May 2003 -- An explosion has rocked a bus near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza strip. At least nine Israelis have been injured. The blast came as new efforts were being made to promote the "road map" to peace, which calls for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within three years.
• EDITORIAL: PALESTINIAN PROGRESS VOA 23 May 2003 -- On May 20th, Israeli troops departed the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip after five days of occupation and military actions. Shortly thereafter, hundreds of Beit Hanoun's residents took to the streets, where they burned tires and blocked a main thoroughfare.
• IVORY COAST / YOUTH GROUPS VOA 23 May 2003 -- Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has asked militant youth groups to cancel a demonstration planned for Saturday. The groups are calling for the disarmament of rebels. The march organizers say they will abide by the request, but other militant groups say they will soon start fighting against the power-sharing peace deal.
• SRI LANKA / REBELS VOA 23 May 2003 -- Sri Lanka's main opposition party says it opposes allowing the Tamil Tiger rebels to set up an interim administration. Debate over how much power the rebels should have could further delay peace talks.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Congress Agrees To Let Pentagon Study Low-Yield Nuclear Weapons Washington File 23 May 2003 -- The U.S. Congress passed the $400.5 billion fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill that includes a provision authorizing research on two new types of nuclear weapons -- small, low-yield nuclear weapons of less than 5 kilotons, and earth-penetrating nuclear bombs that could destroy underground enemy facilities.

• Transcript: Under Secretary Aldridge Briefing on the Results of the Tanker Lease Agreement 23 May 2003 -- Briefing on the results of the tanker lease agreement. Participating was Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.
• ALDRIDGE ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF TANKER LEASE PROGRAM 23 May 2003 -- Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge today announced the approval of the Air Force KC-767 tanker lease initiative. In the next step, the Secretary of the Air Force will now forward a report to Congressional oversight committees detailing the terms and conditions for review and approval.
• MCCAIN DEPLORES BOEING TANKER SCHEME 23 May 2003 -- I am extremely disappointed that the Department of Defense has approved the lease of Boeing 767 aircraft for use as aerial tankers, a profligate waste of federal revenues. This is a great deal for the Boeing Company that I'm sure is the envy of corporate lobbyists from one end of K Street to the other.

• DOD ANNOUNCES MISHAP REDUCTION INITIATIVE 23 May 2003 -- The DoD announced today that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has challenged the heads of the military departments and the defense agencies to reduce the number of mishaps and the mishap rates by 50 percent in the next two years.
• CENTCOM's Gen. Franks Plans to Retire AFPS 23 May 2003 -- "Gen. (Tommy) Franks has advised me of his desire to step down as the commander of the U.S. Central Command in the weeks immediately ahead and his intention to retire from active duty later this summer."
• Rumsfeld Tells Navy Graduates to Shape the Future AFPS 23 May 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the graduating class of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., today that their future will be unlike anything they can imagine.
• Admiral Giambastiani Named SAC Transformation 23 May 2003 -- NATO today announced the appointment of Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr., United States Navy, as Supreme Allied Commander for Transformation.
• PENTAGON/RUMSFELD/GOLD VOA 23 May 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says America's next generation of military leaders will likely face a more dangerous world.
• CENTRAL EUROPE SUMMIT VOA 23 May 2003 -- Central European heads of state have agreed to resolve differences and work with the United States on Iraq and other issues.

• Germany: Berlin Discarding Outdated Arms, Moving To Professional Military RFE/L 23 May 2003 -- The German government wants to streamline its armed forces into a modern army that can play an effective role not only in Europe but also in trouble spots around the world. The problem is that Germany is in a severe economic crisis, and there is little money to spare for modernizing. So this week, Defense Minister Peter Struck announced plans to find the money by closing some military bases and sending outdated weapons to the junkyard. But he left open the politically sensitive issue of whether Germany should continue conscripting young men into the army for a limited period of service.

• MALS-13 returns home to open arms Marine Corps News 23 May 2003-- Sixty-seven Marines with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron-13 returned home Saturday from a four and a half month deployment in the Persian Gulf.
• VMA-211 returns from Operation Iraqi Freedom Marine Corps News 23 May 2003-- Members of Marine Attack Squadron-211 returned this weekend from a four-month tour of duty overseas as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• MDSU-1 returns from war Hawai'i Navy News 23 May 2003-- Divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One (MDSU 1) returned from Iraq May 5 after deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom for more than two months.
• USAFE activates Air and Space Communications Group USAFE News 23 May 2003-- Both a historical and futuristic event took place during the activation of the first U.S. Air Forces in Europe Air and Space Communications Group here, May 22.
• Air boss conference discusses war plan AFPN 23 May 2003-- Leaders from around the world came together here May 22 to discuss deterrence and change the war plan regarding the North Korean threat.
• Honor Guard showcases primary mission 8th US Army Release [MS WORD DOC] 23 May 2003-- The United Nations Command Honor Guard Company is best known for its performance at ceremonies, but, as showcased in Tuesday's Close Quarters Battle Exercise at the Joint Security Area, that is not its primary mission.
• Army opens house to Daegu community 8th US Army Release [MS WORD DOC] 23 May 2003-- The 20th Area Support Group is hosting an Armed Forces Day Open House for the public at the Army Heliport (H-805) here Saturday.
• ROK Prime Minister visits the Second Infantry Division 8th US Army Release [MS WORD DOC] 23 May 2003-- The Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, His Excellency Goh Kun made an historic visit to the US Army's Second Infantry Division today.
• Finance EXEVAL tests wartime readiness 8th US Army Release [MS WORD DOC] 23 May 2003-- The 177th Finance Battalion left their desks and headed out to the field at Camp Casey, May 1 through 4 to test its wartime mission.
• HHC, 8th MP Bde. soldiers achieve DA level maintenance excellence 8th US Army Release [MS WORD DOC] 23 May 2003-- Soldiers from the Headquarters Company of the 8th Military Police Brigade were selected as the runner-up in the Department of the Army's fiscal year 2002, active table of organization and equipment, small unit category in the maintenance excellence competition.
• MP Soldiers Hone Battle Skills Through Live Fire Exercise 8th US Army Release [MS WORD DOC] 23 May 2003-- Despite the rain that slapped their faces, the 57th MP Company soldiers were not hindered from spending 12 days honing their combat skills, while training on their wartime mission at Angang Range. They conducted a live fire exercise April 21st through May 1st in order to test their ability to fight tonight.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update VOA 23 May 2003
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis VOA 23 May 2003
• ALGERIA / QUAKE UPDATE VOA 23 May 2003 -- The death toll continues to mount after Wednesday's earthquake in Algeria. Rescue teams are working against time probing mountains of rubble with sniffer dogs and listening devises to find survivors. Algerian authorities report more than 14-hundred people are dead and more than 72-hundred are injured.
• ZIMBABWE / MONEY VOA 23 May 2003 -- A new item has joined the long list of things that are in short supply in Zimbabwe: cash.
• MACEDONIA/BORDERS VOA 23 May 2003 -- Balkan leaders have pledged to work with NATO on strengthening border controls, especially around Serbia and Montenegro (former Yugoslavia) and other countries, to combat crime. The agreement was reached at the two-day regional conference on border security and management. The meeting ended Friday in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.
• Text: U.S. Reaffirms Support for International Demining Efforts Washington File 23 May 2003 -- The United States -- working with other members of the international community -- is determined to help increase security and stability in post conflict environments by finding and removing landmines and other unexploded ordnance, according to a State Department demining official.
• Transcript: State's Haass Says U.S. Foreign Policy Will Be Tailored to Realities Washington File 23 May 2003 -- The United States does not have a "one-size-fits-all" approach to the world, and Iraq "should not be over-interpreted as a rigid template" for U.S. policy toward countries that pursue weapons of mass destruction, support terrorism, or deny basic liberties, a key State Department official says.
• EDITORIAL: BUSH SPEAKS TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE VOA 23 May 2003 -- President George W. Bush spoke in Spanish to the people of Cuba on the one-hundred-first anniversary of Cuba's independence from Spain.
• EDITORIAL: PROMOTING DEMOCRACY IN MIDEAST VOA 23 May 2003 -- Some people argue that Arab countries are not capable of democracy. But U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns says that not only can Arab countries reform, they must. Repressive political systems that do not find ways to accommodate the people's aspirations will become increasingly unstable.
• ALGERIA / QUAKE VOA 23 May 2003 -- The frantic search for survivors continues in northern Algeria after a powerful earthquake struck on Wednesday night leaving nearly 11-hundred dead and injuring close to seven-thousand others.
• SARS SOURCE VOA 23 May 2003 -- A Hong Kong researcher says a wild animal considered a dining delicacy is the carrier of a virus that causes SARS. The finding fits earlier speculation that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome originated in wild animals. At the same time, the World Health Organization is lifting SARS-related travel advisories for Hong Kong and southern China.
• W-H-O / SARS VOA 23 May 2003 -- The World Health Organization has lifted its travel warning for Hong Kong and China's Guangdong Province, indicating the spread of the disease SARS is under control in those areas. But officials say this does not mean the danger from SARS has passed.
• SARS / NURSES AND DOCTORS VOA 23 May 2003 -- After weeks of caring for desperately ill SARS patients, some nurses and doctors in Beijing are getting a rest, in quarantine.