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Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 24 Feb 2005 [PDF]
• TASK FORCE LIBERTY SOLDIER KILLED BY IED
• SOLDIER KILLED, TWO WOUNDED BY IEDS NEAR SAMARRA

• U.S. Soldier, Eight Iraqis Killed in Separate IED Blasts AFPS 24 Feb 2005 -- A Task Force Liberty soldier was killed and two others were wounded today by improvised explosive devices north of Samarra, Iraq, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported.
• Myers: Troops Got 'Very Close' to Zarqawi, Have Him on Run AFPS 24 Feb 2005 -- U.S. forces got "very close" to Abu Musab al- Zarqawi and are keeping the fugitive Jordanian terrorist with ties to al Qaeda on the run, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Feb. 23 on Fox News Channel.
• OPERATION RIVER BLITZ CONTINUES WITH HELP FROM IRAQI CITIZENS CENTCOM 24 Feb 2005 -- Iraqi and U.S. forces continued increased security operations by raiding a mosque, detaining 17 suspected insurgents and seizing several weapons caches throughout the Al Anbar province as Operation River Blitz rolled on for a fifth day.
• 2 US Soldiers, 17 Iraqis Killed in Separate Attacks VOA News 24 Feb 2005 -- Insurgents in Iraq have launched new attacks Thursday on police and U.S. troops, killing at least 17 people.
• 2/10 returns from Iraq USMC News 24 Feb 2005 -- Marines from 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, returned Feb. 18 and 21 from a seven-month deployment to Iraq.
• 'Bengals' aid the war on the ground throughout Iraq USMC News 24 Feb 2005 -- A platoon of Marines is on patrol in northern Iraq. When they begin taking enemy fire they call for an air strike on the building that enemy forces are using for cover.

• US Army Reports New Detainee Procedures VOA News 24 Feb 2005 -- The U.S. military says it has implemented new procedures to ensure that detainees are not abused, as they were at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and allegedly at other U.S. military detention facilities. Officials say allegations of abuse by army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in 308 criminal investigations.
• Army Improving Procedures for Handling Detainees AFPS 24 Feb 2005 -- The Army is taking steps to improve how its soldiers handle detainees captured in the war on terror, senior officials announced Feb. 23.

• INDIA/KARZAI VOA 24 Feb 2005 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai has met top Indian leaders in New Delhi to boost bilateral and economic ties. The Afghan leader is on a three-day visit to India.
• AFGHANISTAN OPIUM ERADICATION VOA 24 Feb 2005 -- As the planting season for Afghanistan's opium poppies gets underway, the government is cracking down on cultivation of the illegal plant.

Other Conflicts

• UN/KOSOVO VOA 24 Feb 2005 -- The United Nations envoy to Kosovo says a timetable is in place that could lead to negotiations on the region's future later this year. Separate talks between Pristina and Belgrade are to resume shortly.
• COTE D IVOIRE: Question mark hangs over future role of peacekeepers IRIN 24 Feb 2005 -- With just over a month left to run on their current mandate, the 10,000 UN and French peacekeeping troops in Cote d'Ivoire face an uncertain future in which their role may have to be redefined.
• 14 Maoists rebels killed by Nepalese troops IRNA 24 Feb 2005 -- In the latest clashes in Nepal since the king imposed emergency in Nepal, 14 Maoist rebels were killed by Nepalese troops on Wednesday.
• Cost of UN peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan will top $1 billion in first year UN News Centre 24 Feb 2005 -- More than $1 billion will be needed to fund the first year of the proposed United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan, set up to help the vast region stabilize and its people rebuild their lives after a 21-year civil war.
• PALESTINIAN / CABINET VOA 24 Feb 2005 -- Palestinian lawmakers today (Thursday) approved a new government made up of reformers and technocrats ending a political crisis that almost toppled Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.
• LEBANON/SYRIA VOA 24 Feb 2005 -- As diplomatic pressure mounts on Syria to remove its troops from neighboring Lebanon, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister said Damascus will continue redeploying its troops, there, in accordance with the 1989 Taef Agreement, which put an end to Lebanon's civil war.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Transctipt: Transcript of Detainee Operations Update Army News Release 24 Feb 2005 -- Major General Donald Ryder, Provost Marshal General of the Army / Mr. Thomas Gandy, Senior Intelligence Official, G2 Section / Colonel Joseph Curtin, Chief, Army Media Relations
• C-130J circumnavigates globe AFPN 24 Feb 2005 -- Crossing 33 time zones, and stopping in nine locations and seven countries, a Reserve crew from the 403rd Wing here circumnavigated the planet in a C-130J Hercules. This was a first for the new airlifter.
• Frigid chapter closes for C-141 AFPN 24 Feb 2005 -- Another chapter closed in the storied aviation history of the venerable C-141 Starlifter as a 452nd Air Mobility Wing-based crew from here flew aircraft number 152 from the South Pole for the last time.
• U.S. Navy Reserve Provides Logistic Support During Trip to North Korea Navy NewsStand 24 Feb 2005 -- Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VR) 58 completed a trip behind North Korea's iron curtain Jan. 13.

• U.S.-JAPAN JOINT SECURITY STATEMENT: CONCERNS OVER AN 'EMERGING CHINA' US Dept. of State IIP, Foreign Media Reaction 24 Feb 2005
• Bush Thanks Slovakia for Support, Setting Example AFPS 24 Feb 2005 -- President Bush today praised the citizens of Slovakia for overcoming oppression in their own country and for taking "great risks" to help the people of Afghanistan and Iraq to do the same.
• BUSH / EUROPE WRAP VOA 24 Feb 2005 -- President Bush is on his way home after a five-day European tour aimed at mending trans-Atlantic ties, frayed by the war in Iraq.

• Speech by NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer NATO 24 Feb 2005

• U.S., Russia Agree on Man-Portable Air Defense Systems Washington File 24 Feb 2005 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov signed an agreement February 24 that provides a bilateral framework for cooperation in the control of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles that could threaten global aviation if obtained by criminals, terrorists and other non-state actors.
• RUSSIA, US SIGN AGREEMENT ON MANPADS RIA Novosti 24 Feb 2005 -- An agreement on stricter control over man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) has been signed at the Russian-US summit in Bratislava by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
• RUSSIA, US TO PREVENT TERRORISTS FROM POSSESSING MANPADS RIA Novosti 24 Feb 2005 -- Russia and the United States will closely cooperate to prevent terrorists from possessing man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), said official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko.

Defense Industry

• ROSOBORONEXPORT TO MONOPOLIZE ARMS TRADE RIA Novosti 24 Feb 2005 -- It seems that the Tula-based Instrument Engineering Bureau, the only producer of high precision weapons in Russia, has unveiled its products at the Abu Dhabi arms fair for the last time, writes Russky Kuryer.

News Reports

• TOGO: Isolated Gnassingbe makes whistle-stop visit to Gabon and Libya IRIN 25 Feb 2005 -- Faure Gnassingbe, the army-installed president of Togo, flew to Gabon and Libya on Thursday to discuss a way out of his growing international isolation with two of Africa's longest-serving leaders.
• TOGO VOA 24 Feb 2005 -- Togo's military-installed president is trying to avoid more international sanctions, as he visits several African capitals. Togo's opposition is renewing calls for the son of the late, long-ruling leader to step down immediately.