Operations
Other Conflicts
Defense Policy / Programs
News Reports

Current Operations

• Transcript: DoD News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Pace 21 Oct 2003 -- "It's been a good week for the people of Iraq. In New York, the U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 1511, unanimously calling on member states to support the work of the multinational force that's currently in Iraq and to contribute both military forces and financial support to Iraq's reconstruction. And here in Washington, the House and the Senate each approved, largely intact, the president's emergency supplemental request with funds for Iraq and for the troops in the global war on terror. Taken together, the votes in Congress and at the U.N. represent strong bipartisan and international support for the coalition's mission in Iraq and support for the men and women in uniform and the Coalition Provisional Authority, individuals who are risking their lives to help bring freedom and stability to the people of Iraq."
• Morale of Coalition Personnel in Iraq High, Labor Official Says Washington File 21 Oct 2003 -- Morale among coalition civilian and military personnel working on reconstruction in Iraq is "very high," according to a Bush administration official who spent four months working with Iraq's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
• V CORPS ENGINEERS END IRAQI COMMUNITY'S 33-YEAR WAIT FOR DRINKING WATER PIPELINE V Corps Release 21 Oct 2003-- Thirty-three years. That's how long the farmers of Shamlyt, a small community three miles northwest of Baghdad have waited to get drinking water in their homes.
• TROOPS GET 'IN-COUNTRY' BREAK AT NEW BAGHDAD R&R FACILITY ONCE USED BY SADDAM'S REPUBLICAN GUARD V Corps Release 21 Oct 2003-- Tens of thousands of soldiers under V Corps and coalition command have spent the last six months or more in Iraq and many have at least as long to go.
• V CORPS' TASK FORCE 1ST ARMORED DIVISION HELPS BRING 'SADDAM-LESS' CURRENCY TO IRAQ V Corps Release 21 Oct 2003-- Until recently, Iraqis had no choice but to carry a little reminder of Saddam in their pockets - a picture of his face is printed on the Iraqi dinar, this nation's official currency.
• V CORPS, TASK FORCE LEADERS SHARE CONCERNS WITH BAGHDAD CLERICS V Corps Release 21 Oct 2003-- Coalition officials met with Kurdish and other Christian religious leaders Oct. 15 at the 1st Armored Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team operations center here.
• Bahrain EOD Concludes Bilateral Exercise Neon Response Navy Newsstand 21 Oct 2003-- Bahrain-based Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams concluded Exercise Neon Response Oct. 5-15, a bilateral EOD exercise conducted in Bahrain between the U.S. Navy and Bahrain Defence Force.
• ESG 1 Heads North in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom Navy Newsstand 21 Oct 2003-- Amphibious Assault Ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) and the five additional ships and submarine of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 entered the Central Command's area of responsibility (AOR) in September.
• EOD's explosive efforts provide humanitarian assistance during Op Sweeney Marine Corps News 21 Oct 2003-- BOOM! The sound of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment, MEU Service Support Group-13, providing its special kind of humanitarian assistance could be heard throughout the northern portion of the city of Al-Faw, Iraq, Thursday.
• MPs ensure security as 13th MEU rolls into Iraq Marine Corps News 21 Oct 2003-- "On the Road Again" is the newest theme song for the Marines of the Military Police Detachment of MEU Service Support Group-13, the combat service support element of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), who logged more than 1100 miles conducting convoy security in the first two days of operations here Oct. 13 and 14.
• Fighting 13th ashore in Iraq Marine Corps News 21 Oct 2003-- Marines and Sailors of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) arrived in southern Iraq this week, setting up on the Al-Faw peninsula, south of the city of al-Basrah, to conduct security and stability operations and provide humanitarian assistance to the people of southern Iraq.
• 101st Uncovers More Weapons Caches in Iraq AFPS 21 Oct 2003 -- Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) discovered four weapons caches Oct. 20.
• Rumsfeld: Security Situation in Iraq to Drive Troop Rotations AFPS 21 Oct 2003 -- The bulk of U.S. troops serving in Iraq will rotate home in the first half of 2004, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.
• OIF validates installation management concept Army News Service 21 Oct 2003-- Operation Iraqi Freedom has proven naysayers wrong about the Installation Management Agency's value, says Maj. Gen. Anders B. Aadland.

• Afghanistan: NATO Says Security In Kabul Depends On Provinces RFE/RL 21 Oct 2003 -- The commander of the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said today that instability in Kabul is inevitable if security challenges are not met in the provinces.

Other Conflicts

• UN Assembly demands Israel stop work on West Bank wall, urges sides to honour Road Map UN News Centre 22 Oct 2003 -- The United Nations General Assembly today overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding that Israel stop and reverse construction of the wall being built in the West Bank.
• U-S / U-N VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- A U-S State Department official has accused the United Nations General Assembly of harming prospects for peace in the Middle East. He made the charge as U-N diplomats continue to debate a new resolution on Israel.
• ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Israeli forces raided the West Bank city where Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is based on Tuesday. The soldiers encircled the main mosque in Ramallah in a search for members of the militant Islamic group Hamas.
• Cycle of Middle East violence reducing the option of negotiated peace - Annan UN News Centre 21 Oct 2003 -- The net result of the increasing spiral of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East is that each side is pushed farther and farther from the negotiating table and each doubts whether it has a partner for peace, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in a message to a United Nations meeting on Middle East peace.
• Construction of Israeli separation barrier has speeded up, Security Council told UN News Centre 21 Oct 2003 -- Israel has quickened the pace of erecting its separation barrier between itself and Palestinian territories, dividing Palestinian communities and families and threatening to seal off Jerusalem from the West Bank, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.
• ARAFAT / HEALTH VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's doctors say he will soon undergo surgery for a gallbladder complaint, but is in otherwise fine physical condition. The announcement on Tuesday follows weeks of speculation that Mr. Arafat is suffering from serious health problems.
• ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Tens-of-thousands of Palestinians gathered today (Tuesday) in Gaza for the funerals of seven people killed in an Israeli missile strike. Many mourners called for revenge as Israel vowed to continue targeting members of Islamic groups that carry out terror attacks.
• U-N / MIDDLE EAST VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- A senior United Nations official has urged Israel to stop construction of a security barrier that juts into the West Bank. The official called on both sides to step back from what he called a "low point" in the Middle East.

• Prendergast Sees Tangible Signs of Political Progress in DRC Washington File 21 Oct 2003 -- Despite continued outbreaks of ethnic-fueled violence in the eastern area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), political progress is being made toward ending a conflict that over the last five years has killed thousands of civilians, says John Prendergast, special adviser to the International Crisis Group (ICG), a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to helping resolve conflicts worldwide.
• Powell, Kibaki Focus on Sudan, Somalia Peace Talks, Anti-terrorism Efforts Washington File 21 Oct 2003 -- "Sudan has suffered too long, too many people have died. It is now an opportunity for them to resolve this conflict" and bring "a more hopeful life to all of the Sudanese people," said Secretary of State Powell, pointing to the opening that has been created in the peace talks currently taking place in Kenya. His remarks came October 21 after meeting with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi.
• POWELL / SUDAN ONITER VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell today (Wednesday) joins Kenyan-hosted peace talks on Sudan, hoping to give a boost to efforts to end the African country's 20-year-old civil war. He'll meet in the town of Naivasha outside Nairobi with the top negotiators from the Khartoum government and southern rebels.
• LIBERIA/POLITICS VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- The election of a former rebel leader as parliamentary speaker in Liberia has paved the way for the formation of an interim power-sharing peace government. But there are concerns that many of the officials in the interim phase have tainted pasts.
• IVORY COAST / ARRESTS VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Opponents of Ivozry Coast President Laurent Gbagbo accuse the government of targeting them for punishment, following the arrest of 11 opposition activists.
• POWELL-KENYA-SUDAN VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Kenya for a visit aimed at giving a final boost to Kenyan-sponsored negotiations to end the long civil war in Sudan. Mr. Powell will meet Wednesday with senior negotiators of the Sudanese parties.
• NORTHERN IRELAND VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- The peace process in Northern Ireland has been strengthened by Britain's announcement of new elections next month, and by the Irish Republican Army's statement it has given up more weapons.
• SUDAN / PEACE TALKS VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Nearly a decade after the first peace talks were held to end Sudan's civil war, mediators and observers say there appears to be a real commitment among the warring parties to clinch a peace agreement. The parties are under enormous regional and international pressure to resolve Africa's longest-running war.
• UN to stop sending aid workers to northern Somalia after 4th death UN News Centre 21 Oct 2003 -- A senior United Nations humanitarian official today expressed "profound sorrow" at the killing of two British aid workers in northern Somalia and said no new UN workers would be sent to the area until it stabilizes.
• UN and Sierra Leonean forces begin joint border operations UN News Centre 21 Oct 2003 -- Troops from the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) have launched a joint border operation with local police and air force units, designed to increase security in the frontier with Liberia, and to enhance Sierra Leone's armed forces' capabilities.

• New Southeast Europe Mine Detection Dog Center Opens Washington File 21 Oct 2003 -- A new Southeast Europe Mine Detection Dog Center has opened near Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the State Department announced October 21.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Blood Donations Halted From Personnel Deployed To Iraq AFPS 21 Oct 2003 -- A parasitic disease being spread by sand flies in Iraq has prompted officials who oversee the military's blood supply to implement a one-year donor deferral for military personnel serving in that country.
• PENTAGON/GENERAL/MUSLIMS VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- The Pentagon will launch an internal investigation into controversial comments by a top military intelligence official that cast the war on terrorism in religious terms.
• Fighting Phoenix reaches Japan Marine Corps News 21 Oct 2003-- Navy Electronic Attack Squadron 128 arrived on Station Oct. 14 bringing with them five EA-6B Prowlers and nearly 200 Sailors for a three-month deployment.
• Lancers become part of 'Sling' history Marine Corps News 21 Oct 2003-- Exercise Commando Sling is an air exercise between Singapore and the United States that began in 1990. Commando Sling aims at providing Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) to U.S. and Singaporean pilots as well as providing for a continuous commitment for a U.S. presence in Singapore.
• Name change captures major commands role Army News Service 21 Oct 2003-- The Military Traffic Management Command will change its name Jan. 1, 2004 to reflect its role in deploying the forces.
• Army meets end-strength for fourth straight year Army News Service 21 Oct 2003-- The Army has met its end-strength goal for fiscal year 2003 for the fourth consecutive year within its active-duty, Army Reserve and National Guard.
• Global Hawk completes test flight AFPN 21 Oct 2003-- The U.S. Air Force's Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle completed the first of five planned technical flight tests here Oct. 21. The three weeks of tests are scheduled to demonstrate interoperability between U.S. Air Force and German Ministry of Defense unmanned aerial vehicle systems

• Bush, Singapore's Goh Call for Closer Security Cooperation Washington File 21 Oct 2003 -- President Bush and Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong reaffirmed strong bilateral ties and said they will enter into negotiations on a framework agreement to expand defense and security cooperation, according to an joint statement issued after Bush's October 21 visit to Singapore.

• U.S. Outlines Priorities for Chemical Weapons Meeting Washington File 21 Oct 2003 -- Agreeing on a budget and approving an action plan to assist and ensure full and effective compliance by members of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are the foremost priorities for the organization, according to a U.S. official.

• Puri takes over as India`s new chief of integrated defense staff IRNA 21 Oct 2003 -- naval officer, Raman Puri, Monday took over as India`s Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff (CIDS). According to the Hindu, a New Delhi-based English daily, the CIDS is half-a-step towards a unified military command at the top level.

• Exercise ARRCADE FUSION 2003 NATO HQ ARRC 21 Oct 2003 -- The Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) conducts its annual Exercise ARRCADE FUSION at Sennelager Training Centre, near Paderborn, Germany, from 3-14 November. This is a computer-aided, command post exercise designed to enhance the headquarters' ability to command and control warfighting operations, with particular emphasis on staff processes and procedures.
• NATO/E-U VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- NATO and E-U diplomats met to defuse a simmering transatlantic dispute over E-U plans to develop its own military force, a move that the United States worries may undermine NATO. The Europeans are seeking to reassure Washington that their plans will not hurt the alliance.
• NATO: Dispute Over European Defense Policy On Hold For The Moment RFE/RL 21 Oct 2003 -- The extraordinary NATO meeting called by the United States yesterday appears to have served its immediate purpose. NATO officials say tensions over European Union defense policy evident last week have largely dissipated, and that U.S. representatives obtained important clarifications from their EU colleagues. NATO ambassadors are continuing their talks in Brussels today. NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and the EU's security chief, Javier Solana, are expected to stress that no serious rift exists between the United States and the EU.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 21 Oct 2003 -- Lord Robertson: Ukraine needs stronger democracy to join alliance / Serbia bitter over Hague indictment of officers / Top general says U.S. troops in Iraq through 2004 / Greece says Cyprus deal needed before Turkey joins EU
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 21 Oct 2003 -- Europe eases U.S. concerns over NATO / Report: Chairman NAMILCOM says dispatch of more soldiers to Afghanistan necessary / Pacifists target SHAPE

• ANNAN SPEECH VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging the United States to emphasize consensus-building as it exercises leadership in world affairs. The secretary general's comments came in a speech at the University of Pittsburgh.
• UN, US need each other in relationship of 'productive interdependence' - Annan UN News Centre 21 Oct 2003 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said that despite fears of a breakdown in international order, some of which he shares, "I believe profoundly that the United States and the United Nations need one another."

• State Department Briefing, October 21, 2003 Washington File 21 Oct 2003 -- Serbia, Iran, Israel/Palestinians, Syria, Cyprus, Department, Bolivia
• ZIMBABWE/OPPOSITION VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- The main opposition party in Zimbabwe is getting ready for its court case challenging last year's presidential election. The case is scheduled to go to court in about two weeks, but the party fears it could be delayed yet again.
• MAHATHIR / JEWS VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad continues to spark controversy with his remarks about Jewish influence. Despite strong condemnation of his words, he reiterated them in an interview Tuesday with an English-language newspaper in Bangkok, where he is attending an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit.
• INDIA/SRI LANKA VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Sri Lanka and India have agreed to strengthen economic cooperation, and step-up bilateral ties. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesing is wrapping up a two-day visit to India.
• APEC/JAPAN VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Speaking at the APEC meeting in Bangkok, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says he is concerned about North Korea, from its kidnapping of Japanese citizens to its nuclear ambitions. The Japanese leader also urged Burma to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
• AZERBAIJAN/VOTE VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- Azerbaijan's Constitutional Court is reviewing the final results from last week's presidential election, which central election officials say was won by the son of outgoing President Heidar Aliyev.
• AUSTRALIA / U-S RELATIONS VOA 21 Oct 2003 -- President Bush this week visits / is visiting Australia - one of Washington's most loyal supporters in the war on terror. Security issues and free trade negotiations are expected to dominate the two-day trip, which follows the APEC summit in Thailand and stopovers in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. Mr. Bush may get a warm welcome from the Canberra government, but he will also face protests from groups opposed to the U-S occupation of Iraq.