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News

Operations
Other Conflicts
Defense Policy / Programs
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 12 Aug 2004 [PDF]
• MARINES KILLED IN HELICOPTER CRASH
• DoD Identifies Air Force Casualty
• MARINE DIES IN HELICOPTER CRASH IN KHOWST PROVINCE, SERVICEMEMBERS INJURED
• SUPPLEMENTAL - NON-HOSTILE HELICOPTER ACCIDENT KILLS ONE, INJURES 14

• IRAQI FORCES DEAL MEHDI MILITIA BLOW IN AL KUT CENTCOM 12 Aug 2004 -- Joint Iraqi Police Service, Iraqi National Guard, and U.S. Special Forces operations in Al Kut, Aug. 11, against Mehdi Militiamen may have broken the back of anti-Iraqi forces in the city, according to the city's governor
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 12 Aug 2004 -- Iraqi and U.S. Forces have launched a major assault against militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. U.S. forces have stormed his home in the holy city of Najaf. Iraq's government says it will go ahead Sunday with a national conference that will choose an interim assembly. The United Nations approves extending its mission in Iraq for another year.
• Coalition, Iraqi Forces Focus on al-Sadr's Outlaw Militia Washington File 12 Aug 2004 -- Current military operations being conducted by Iraqi and multinational military forces in Najaf and Kufa are "designed to restrict freedom of movement" of the Mehdi militia forces loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, according to a U.S. general.
• IRAQ/NAJAF VOA 12 Aug 2004 -- U.S. and Iraqi troops are waging a major offensive against militants loyal to a radical Shiite cleric in the holy city of Najaf. The fighting centers on a shrine that is one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, where the militants are holed up. Iraqi officials say only Iraqi security forces are authorized to enter the shrine.
• Helicopter Crash in Anbar Province Claims Two Marines AFPS 12 Aug 2004 -- Two Marines were killed and three others were injured the night of Aug. 11 when a CH-53 helicopter flying in support of security and stabilization operations in Iraq's Anbar province crashed, a Multinational Force Iraq news release reported today.
• Offensive Begins But Holy Sites Not Targeted, Officials Say AFPS 12 Aug 2004 -- Multinational and Iraqi forces launched an offensive against outlaw militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Iraqi cities of Kufa and Najaf today.
• IRAQI SECURITY FORCES RESPOND TO ATTACKS IN AL KUT CENTCOM 12 Aug 2004 -- Iraqi Police and National Guard units responded on Wednesday to attacks by armed anti-Iraqi forces on Al Kut's city hall, Iraqi Police stations and Iraqi National Guard barracks.
• OPERATIONS IN NAJAF DESIGNED TO ISOLATE MILITIA CENTCOM 12 Aug 2004 -- Current clearing operations by Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces in Kufa and Najaf are focused on areas in both cities, but do not include the Imam Ali Mosque nor the Kufa Mosque.
• MEHDI MILITIA FIRING ON IRAQI CITIZENS FROM INSIDE HOLY MOSQUE CENTCOM 12 Aug 2004 -- Members of the Mehdi Militia fired 25 mortar rounds at the main IP station in Najaf from inside the walls of the Imam Ali Shrine, the courtyard area, beginning around 10:45 a.m.
• 24th MEU's Army MPs capture weapons, suspected insurgents Marine Corps News 11 Aug 2004 -- After seeing a supply convoy ambushed early Wednesday, soldiers from the 118th Military Police Company (Airborne), under command of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, captured three suspected insurgents and recovered 11 weapons with ammunition.
• 11th MEU battles anti-Iraqi forces in An Najaf Marine Corps News 12 Aug 2004 -- The first four days of the battle of Najaf, between 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) forces and the Muqtada Militia, started here in the early morning darkness well before dawn, Aug. 5.
• Iraqi Officials Say 72 Dead After U.S. Bombs Al-Kut RFE/RL 12 Aug 2004 -- Iraqi officials say at least 72 people were killed and 148 wounded today in U.S. air raids and fighting between the Iraqi police and Shi'ite militia in the southern Iraqi city of Al-Kut.
• Iraqi Militia Head Vows To Repel 'Major' U.S. Offensive RFE/RL 12 Aug 2004 -- Militia forces loyal to Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr vowed today to defend their positions in the city of Al-Najaf, where the U.S. military announced the start of what it called a "major offensive."

• Joint Chiefs Chairman Notes Improvement in Afghanistan AFPS 12 Aug 2004 -- Each time he goes to Afghanistan, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here Aug. 11, conditions in the country seem better than during his previous visit.
• Rumsfeld Warns of More Violence in Afghanistan Washington File 12 Aug 2004 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that the Taliban and al Qaeda are determined to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a successful and free nation and called upon the Afghan people to show strength in order to continue the success they have achieved since the Taliban's overthrow.
• RFE/RL Afghanistan Report, Vol 3, Number 28 12 Aug 2004 -- AS ELECTION CAMPAIGN GETS ROLLING, SOME ARE ALREADY ALLEGING FRAUD / THIS WEEK ON RADIO FREE AFGHANISTAN / DEFENSE MINISTER TO BACK QANUNI... / ...BUT PROMISES TO KEEP THE ELECTIONS PEACEFUL / KABUL DAILY CALLS FOR REFORM OF THE ELECTION BODY... / ...AS ANOTHER DAILY WARNS THAT MULTIPLE VOTING CARDS COULD SPOIL ELECTIONS / WITH NO MONEY OR MILITARY, LONE FEMALE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DEPENDS ON SUPPORTERS FOR STRENGTH / U.S. ENVOY TO KABUL WARNS OF TROUBLE DURING AFGHAN ELECTION PROCESS / EMPLOYEES OF GERMAN AID GROUP KILLED IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN / FIVE PEOPLE KILLED IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN / U.S. MARINES, AFGHAN INTERPRETER KILLED IN SOUTH-CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN... / ...AS NEO-TALIBAN ELEMENT CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY / FIVE FIGHTERS KILLED IN CLASH BETWEEN PROVINCIAL FORCES IN WESTERN AFGHANISTAN... / ...AS AFGHAN DEFENSE MINISTRY CONFIRMS WESTERN PROVINCIAL CLASHES... / SPLIT REPORTED IN AFGHANISTAN'S NEO-TALIBAN RANKS... / ...AS LEADERSHIP DOWNPLAYS REBELLION / NEO-TALIBAN INSURGENTS KILLED IN THREE SOUTHERN AFGHAN PROVINCES / AFGHAN LEADER PROMISES CAPTURE OF KILLERS OF AID WORKERS... / ...WHILE KABUL DAILY LAUDS WORK OF AID GROUP AND URGES ITS RETURN / AFGHAN LEADER SWAPS MINISTERS / NEW EDITOR NAMED FOR KABUL'S GOVERNMENT DAILY / MEDIA-TRAINING CENTER INAUGURATED IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN / EUROPEAN FORCE TAKES COMMAND OF ISAF / THIS WEEK IN AFGHANISTAN'S HISTORY

Other Conflicts

• There can be no amnesty for genocide and war crimes - Annan UN News Centre 12 Aug 2004 -- In helping war-torn societies re-establish the rule of law and come to terms with large-scale past abuses after conflict, the United Nations must reject any amnesty for genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a report made public today.

• Israeli PM Reported Furious Over Minister's Settlement Withdrawal Remarks VOA News 12 Aug 2004 -- Aides to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon say he is furious after a senior official said Israel will have to remove more Jewish settlements from the West Bank than planned under the government's disengagement plan.
• U-S / GEORGIA-OSSETIA VOA 12 Aug 2004 -- The United States is in diplomatic contact with the Georgian and Russian governments, seeking an end to the flare-up of violence in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. Georgian and separatist forces in the area traded heavy gunfire for a second day Thursday.
• U-S-SUDAN-DARFUR VOA 12 Aug 2004 -- The United States Thursday welcomed the prospect of Nigerian-hosted peace talks later this month between the parties to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. It also angrily rejected a charge that Western interest in the Darfur crisis is aimed at seizing Sudanese oil resources.
• Burundi: UN envoy denounces killings, torture, rape by all sides to conflict UN News Centre 12 Aug 2004 -- The top United Nations envoy for Burundi today strongly denounced summary executions, torture, sexual violence and arbitrary detentions by all sides in the war-torn central African country since the arrival of the UN mission there in June and called on all parties to cease forthwith and observe a truce.
• SUDAN / PEACEKEEPING PROPOSAL VOA 12 Aug 2004 -- Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail says his government would not accept a proposal put forth this week by a high-ranking U.S. senator and a southern Sudanese rebel leader, to deploy peacekeeping troops in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
• INDONESIA RIGHTS VOA 12 Aug 2004 -- court in Indonesia has acquitted a senior army general accused of crimes against humanity. As Tim Johnston reports from Jakarta, the verdict disappointed human rights advocates, who say it proves the Indonesian army is still beyond the law.
• Deadliest Fighting In Years Erupts In South Ossetia RFE/RL 12 Aug 2004 -- Fresh fighting erupted overnight in Georgia's separatist republic of South Ossetia, leaving at least three people dead and several wounded. The shootout, which followed a day of heavy artillery fire around the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, is the most serious incident reported in the area since the election of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in January. This is also the first time in a decade that people are reported killed in military action.

Defense Policy / Programs

• U.S. Army Develops Vaccine Against Deadly Ricin Washington File 11 Aug 2004 -- Scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Maryland have developed an experimental vaccine against ricin, a potential bioterrorism agent, that has protected mice sprayed with a mist containing lethal doses of the toxin.
• Units of action get new 'modular' barracks Army News 12 Aug 2004 -- When the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga., began organizing a fourth brigade-sized "unit of action," the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rushed to build facilities for the new unit.
• Myers Meets With Strategic Central Asian Ally AFPS 12 Aug 2004 -- Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers met with Uzbek leaders today to cement relations with "an important strategic partner" of America.
• AZERBAIJAN / RUMSFELD VOA 12 Aug 2004 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held talks in Azerbaijan with President Ilham Aliyev on security and other issues.
• Artillery battery arrives on Okinawa for six-month tour Marine Corps News 12 Aug 2004 -- Marines with Battery B, 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, from Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., arrived here Aug. 5 for a six-month Unit Deployment Program tour with 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.
• DoD Helps Local, State, Federal Agencies in Disaster-Response Exercise AFPS 12 Aug 2004 -- It was a nightmare worst-case scenario. But that's what U.S. Northern Command officials had intended for "Determined Promise '04."

• NATO Radar Planes Begin Security Overflights for Athens Olympics Washington File 11 Aug 2004 -- NATO has begun operational flights of several radar planes to provide surveillance and early warning of possible threats during the Summer Olympic Games that begin in Athens on August 13, according to an August 10 press release
• NATO Experts Observe Anti-Terrorism Exercise in Russia Washington File 12 Aug 2004 -- Experts from 17 NATO countries and the organization's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, recently observed a Russian military exercise that focused on defending nuclear weapons convoys -- truck or rail -- from terrorist attacks

• State Department Noon Briefing, August 12 Washington File 12 Aug 2004 -- Iraq, Russia, Georgia, Japan, Greece, Cyprus, Libya, Iran, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Sudan

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 12 Aug 2004 -- Three ethnic Albanians arrested in Serbia-Montenegro for allegedly attacking police / With new UN envoy due in Baghdad, Security Council agrees to extend UN mission in Iraq for a year / Hungarian government to decide in October on Iraq troops / Donald Rumsfeld says drugs is a new threat to Afghan future / Group claiming Qaeda link threatens Italy
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 12 Aug 2004 -- Gen. Jones' meeting with President Karzai noted by local media / Bulgarian commentary calls NATO mission to Iraq "symbolic" / Public Order Minister: NATO help to be sought only in large-scale attack