Operations
Other Conflicts
Defense Policy / Programs
News Reports

Current Operations

• TASK FORCE IRONHORSE ENGINEERS HELP IRAQI TOWN CENTCOM Release 07 Aug 2003-- The lives of Iraqi living in Al Asriya have improved thanks to the efforts of the 5th Engineers of Task Force Ironhorse.
• COALITION AND IRAQI PEOPLE WORK TO MAKE IRAQ SECURE CENTCOM Release 07 Aug 2003-- Weapons and information turned over to Coalition forces enabled the successful detaining of former regime loyalists and confiscation of weapons on August 6.
• MIOs Beef Up Security in The Gulf Navy Newsstand 07 Aug 2003-- Since the end of combat operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in May, maritime interception operation (MIO) teams have continued to routinely board and check merchant vessel traffic in the Arabian Gulf to make sure nothing illegal comes from or goes into Iraq.
• Warrior Sweep disposes of weapons caches Army News Service 07 Aug 2003-- Weapons caches containing more than 75,000 pounds of miscellaneous Russian, Chinese and Pakistani ordnance found in two caves were destroyed during Operation Warrior Sweep.
• Ganci AB supports flood of soldiers AFPN 07 Aug 2003-- A flash flood of fully armed, desert-camouflaged warriors swept through the flightline here this week, leaving the base's passenger and cargo moving experts wiped out.
• Spangdahlem airmen support operations in Liberia USAFE News 07 Aug 2003-- Far from the forests and castles of Germany, five security forces airmen from 52nd Security Forces Squadron, Spangdahlem Air Base, are deployed to the palm trees and jungle canopy of Africa supporting operations in Liberia.
• Raids, Patrols in Iraq More Focused, Sophisticated AFPS 07 Aug 2003 -- Improvements in the security situation in Iraq have allowed local commanders to become more focused and more sophisticated in their actions against the remnants of the former regime, Pentagon officials said today.
• Transcript:DoD News Briefing - Mr. Di Rita and Lt. Gen. Schwartz 07 Aug 2003 -- DoD news briefing. Participating were Lawrence Di Rita, special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, director for operations, the Joint Staff.
• Iraq: U.S. General Says Hussein On The Run, In Disguise RFE/RL 07 Aug 2003 -- A top U.S. military official in Iraq says Saddam Hussein is eluding U.S. forces by moving frequently and in disguise.
• TWO SOLDIERS KILLED IN FIREFIGHT CENTCOM 07 Aug 2003-- Two 1st Armored Division soldiers were killed and one wounded in a small arms fire fight in the Al Rashid district here at approximately 11 p.m. on Aug. 6.
• SOLDIER DIES AFTER SEIZURE CENTCOM 07 Aug 2003-- A 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldier died at approximately 9:30 p.m. Aug. 6 after developing a seizure while performing duties here.
• Polish prepare take over in southern Iraq Marine Corps News 07 Aug 2003-- As the Marines, sailors and soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment prepare to return home, they are making sure that international forces replacing them have everything they need to succeed.

• Afghanistan: UN-assisted commission seeks disarmament of flashpoint region UN News Centre 07 Aug 2003 -- A United Nations-assisted Afghan security commission is set to hold an extraordinary meeting on Saturday to finalize disarmament plans for a northern region that has been a flashpoint for tensions between rival militias, a UN spokesman said today.
• Afghanistan: ICG Study Says Alienation Of Pashtuns Likely To Threaten Reforms RFE/RL 07 Aug 2003 -- A study by a Brussels-based think tank is warning that the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan is becoming alienated from the political reform process. The International Crisis Group says the perception of estrangement among Pashtuns is a threat to prospects of long-term peace.
• AFGHAN/ATTACK VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- In Afghanistan, suspected Taleban guerrillas have killed at least seven people, most of them Afghan soldiers, in an attack (early Thursday) in the southern part of the country.
• EDITORIAL: DEFEATING TALEBAN REMNANTS VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- Remnants of the Taleban have been carrying out sporadic attacks against coalition and Afghan government troops in southern Afghanistan. Now, Taleban diehards are assassinating Muslim clerics in the Kandahar region. Maulavi [MOW-lah-wee] Abdul [ab-DUL] Manan [mah-NAHN], a member of the local district religious council, was shot as he left his mosque. He was the third cleric killed by Taleban terrorists in the last forty days.
• RFE/RL Afghanistan Report, Vol 2, Number 28 07 Aug 2003 -- THE 'DURAND LINE' -- FROM IMAGINATION TO AN INTERNATIONAL BORDER / UN OFFICIAL STRESSES NEED FOR SECURITY BEFORE MEANINGFUL ELECTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN / NATO CONSIDERING EXPANDED PEACEKEEPING ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN / NATO COMMANDER ARRIVES IN KABUL FOR ISAF TAKEOVER / ICG REPORT CALLS FOR EMPOWERMENT OF AFGHANISTAN'S PASHTUNS / AFGHAN LEADER SAYS REFORM OF DEFENSE MINISTRY UNDER WAY... / ..AS SENIOR UNITED FRONT OFFICIALS DISCUSS FUTURE / AFGHAN SECURITY ADVISER BEGINS DISARMING HIS OWN TROOPS... / ...WHICH IS VIEWED AS 'NONSENSE' BY RIVAL / GOVERNOR DENIES ASKING FOR HELP TO COMBAT NEO-TALIBAN FORCES / U.S. TROOPS INJURE THREE ANA OFFICERS / ACCIDENT KILLS 13 IN DISARMAMENT EFFORT IN AFGHANISTAN / IRANIAN PRESIDENT PROMISES SUPPORT FOR AFGHAN STABILITY / AFGHAN LEADER CALLS ON PAKISTAN'S HELP TO FIGHT TERRORISM / AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN TO MONITOR BORDER USING GPS... / ...AS PAKISTAN CLAIMS AFGHANISTAN'S USE OF FAULTY RUSSIAN MAP CAUSED CONFUSION OVER BORDER / INDIA ACCUSED OF INCITING AFGHAN-PAKISTANI TENSIONS... / ...WHICH IS AFFIRMED BY ISLAMABAD / AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN DISCUSS BILATERAL TRADE / AFGHAN WOMEN PRESENT DECLARATION OF RIGHTS / RECOMMENDATIONS BY AFGHAN CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES ON THE CLJ / AFGHAN ADMINISTRATION INCREASES OVERSIGHT OF PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION / AFGHAN ADMINISTRATION SETS UP ELECTION COMMISSION / TEXT OF KARZAI'S DECREE BROADCAST BY RADIO AFGHANISTAN ON 26 JULY / GERMAN-STYLE BEER GARDEN POPULAR IN KABUL / THIS WEEK IN AFGHANISTAN'S HISTORY

• RICE / NORTH KOREA / LIBERIA VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- U-S National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice says she is optimistic that multi-lateral talks will help convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. Ms. Rice also repeated Washington's call on Liberian President Charles Taylor to give up power.
• U.S. Marines to Provide Logistical Support in Monrovia Washington File 07 Aug 2003 -- Air Force Lieutenant General Norton Schwartz says the small team of U.S. Marines that arrived in Monrovia August 6 will provide logistical support as needed for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mission in Liberia.
• Socio-economic effect of embargo on Liberian timber examined in UN report UN News Centre 07 Aug 2003 -- An assessment of the recently imposed timber sanctions on Liberia has determined that the embargo will have an impact on the country only when the security environment does not already preclude logging and timber exports, according to a new United Nations report released today in New York.
• Liberia: UN envoy set for talks with potential troop contributors UN News Centre 07 Aug 2003 -- As the top United Nations envoy for Liberia prepares to meet with potential troop contributors today, West African peacekeepers, logistical equipment and desperately needed humanitarian aid continue to flow toward the war-battered country.
• LIBERIA / PEACEKEEPERS WRAP VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- Long-awaited West African peacekeepers entered the besieged Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Thursday.They were welcomed by tens-of-thousands of people, who view the foreign soldiers as key to bringing stability to the war-battered country.
• POWELL / LIBERIA VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell says if Liberian President Charles Taylor steps down and leaves the country for Nigeria, as expected in a few days, it would not free him from responsibility for answering war crimes charges in Sierra Leone.
• LIBERIA / PEACEKEEPERS VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- Peacekeeping troops from Nigeria have moved into Liberia's capital, Monrovia, to try to help end 14 years of civil war.

Other Conflicts

• Rice Urges Long-Term Commitment to Transformation in Mideast Washington File 07 Aug 2003 -- "Today America and our friends and allies must commit ourselves to a long-term transformation in another part of the world: the Middle East. A region of 22 countries with a combined population of 300 million, the Middle East has a combined GDP less than that of Spain, population 40 million. It is held back by what leading Arab intellectuals call a political and economic "freedom deficit." In many quarters a sense of hopelessness provides a fertile ground for ideologies of hatred that persuade people to forsake university educations, careers and families and aspire instead to blow themselves up -- taking as many innocent lives with them as possible. These ingredients are a recipe for regional instability -- and pose a continuing threat to America's security."
• Annan to appoint key adviser on Cyprus as new envoy for Western Sahara UN News Centre 07 Aug 2003 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced his intention to appoint Alvaro de Soto of Peru, a key adviser on the Cyprus issue, as his new envoy for Western Sahara.
• DR of Congo: UN mission condemns latest round of violence in northeast UN News Centre 07 Aug 2003 -- As a stronger United Nations force prepares to deploy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's volatile northeast - where kidnappings and murders persist outside the flashpoint town of Bunia - the head of the UN mission in the country today strongly condemned the latest killings, which included several relief workers among the dead.
• Security situation in Timor-Leste quiet, UN police chief says UN News Centre 07 Aug 2003 -- The security situation in Timor-Leste has been very quiet over the past few months, with none of the problems experienced late in 2002 and early this year reoccurring, the top United Nations police official in the country said today.
• Security Council set to meet on UN tribunals for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia UN News Centre 07 Aug 2003 -- The Security Council is scheduled to hold a private meeting tomorrow on the United Nations war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia amid discussions that the prosecutor's post would be more effective if there was one for each court.
• IVORY COAST/ PEACE VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- Ivory Coast is marking its 43rd Independence Day with the traditional marching and speeches. But this year's celebration is clouded by tensions in the country, following last year's civil war.
• IVORY COAST/ PEACE VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- Ivory Coast is marking its 43rd Independence Day with the traditional marching and speeches. But this year's celebration is clouded by tensions in the country, following last year's civil war.
• TURKEY / KURDS VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- Turkish prosecutors are threatening to ban the country's largest pro-Kurdish party, called Dehap, on charges it is acting as a political front for Kurdish separatist rebels.

Defense Policy / Programs

• 'America's Flagship' Retires After 42 years of Service Navy Newsstand 06 Aug 2003-- 'America's Flagship', USS Constellation (CV 64) was decommissioned Aug. 6 after 41 years, nine months and 11 days of naval service in a ceremony at Naval Air Station North Island.
• CWC 729 keep M198s fully mission capable Marine Corps News 07 Aug 2003-- Throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom, hailstorms of fire from 155mm M198 Howitzer cannons lit up the Iraqi horizon, dealing death and destruction to enemy combatants who still had the will to fight.
• Rangers 'rendezvous' on drop zone Army News Service 07 Aug 2003-- More than 1,500 Rangers of the 75th Ranger Regiment and its three battalions kicked off Ranger Rendezvous 2003 by jumping onto Fort Benning's Fryar Drop Zone Aug. 3.
• STRYKERS CONDUCT EXERCISE DURING FIRST OVERSEAS MOVEMENT 8th Army Release MS DOC 07 Aug 2003-- Members of 3rd platoon, Company C, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash., conducted a Stryker capabilities demonstration Monday for the Korean and international news media and a live-fire exercise Tuesday for U.S. and Republic of Korea senior military at the Rodriguez Range Complex in North Kyungki Province.
• STRYKER MAKES NEWS WITH FIRST CONTACT ON FOREIGN SOIL 8th Army Release MS DOC 07 Aug 2003-- The reception was set. Not one with pomp and circumstance, marching band, and finely dressed dignitaries. No, on this occasion more than 70 reporters and photographers from nearly 40 Korean and international news organizations lined the tarmac at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea (ROK), July 31, anxiously waiting for two touchdowns: plane wheels and Stryker wheels.
• Powell: 'World Must Come Together to Defeat' Terrorism AFPS 07 Aug 2003 -- Recent terrorist bombings of a major hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, and at the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad underline the need for nations to unite to fight global terrorism, the senior U.S. diplomat said here today.
• Powell: U.S. Will Not be Defeated in War Against Terror Washington File 07 Aug 2003 -- The United States is determined to unite the civilized world in a campaign to rid the world of terrorism and will not be deterred or defeated in this effort, Secretary of State Colin Powell said August 7 in a question and answer session with journalists at the State Department's Foreign Press Center in Washington, and via satellite at the New York and Los Angeles centers.
• U.S. Condemns Car Bombing in Iraq Washington File 07 Aug 2003 -- WHITE HOUSE DISMISSES GORE COMMENTS AT NYU / BUSH TO MEET WITH RUMSFELD, MYERS, CHENEY
• BUSH / DEFENSE OVERNIGHT VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- President Bush meets Friday with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to review military operations in Iraq and the fight against terrorism.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 07 Aug 2003 -- State Department: No U.S. decision yet on whether fighters will remain / U.S. sends handful of troops into Liberia / Denmark eyes EU treaty referendum in 2004 / Chinese, Russian, Central Asian troops begin joint military exercises Turkish president approves reforms curbing military's influence
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 07 Aug 2003 -- NATO faces Afghan challenge in first "out-of-theater mission" / Report: Official tells Adm. Feist SFOR should stay until defense reform is completed / Russian armed forces setting up permanent peacekeeping unit

• U.S. Scientists Gain Ground in Preventing Ebola Washington File 07 Aug 2003 -- The National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced August 6 that an experimental vaccine has protected test monkeys injected with Ebola from developing the often-deadly disease. The achievement marks an advance toward protecting individuals and their communities from the highly contagious Ebola hemorrhagic fever, which causes death in more than 50 percent of its victims, according to international disease monitors.
• World: Deposed Dictators Live Out Years In Comfortable Exile, With Few Regrets RFE/RL 07 Aug 2003 -- News that former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin may be on his deathbed in Saudi Arabia is prompting renewed discussion about the fate of exiled tyrants around the world and whether more of them can be brought to justice for their past crimes. One Italian journalist visited several of the world's most notorious retired dictators and shares his impressions.
• TAIWAN/UN VOA 07 Aug 2003 -- For the 11th time, Taiwan is making a bid to join the United Nations. Taiwan leaders say allowing the island to join will help international peace and stability. But Taiwan's bid has been blocked every year by rival China.