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Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 04 Oct 2005 [PDF]
• ONE SOLDIER IS DEAD AS A RESULT OF GUNSHOT WOUND
• TWO SOLDIERS KILLED IN HAQLANIYAH
• II MEF SOLDIER DIES FROM IED
• II MEF MARINE KILLED IN ACTION
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty

• Operation River Gate launched MNF-I 04 Oct 2005 -- The 2nd Marine Division launched Operation Bawwabatu Annaher, or River Gate in English, in the cities of Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana Oct. 4.
• US Military Begins New Anti-Insurgency Operation in Western Iraq; 2 Killed in Baghdad Car Bombing VOA 04 Oct 2005 -- U.S. forces in Iraq have begun a new offensive against insurgents in three major towns in the Euphrates River valley, west of Baghdad.
• Task Force Baghdad Responds to Attack; Terror Suspects Captured AFPS 04 Oct 2005 -- Iraqi troops assigned to a public-order brigade and U.S. Army soldiers fought off more than 40 insurgents in southern Baghdad this morning.
• Forces strike terrorists in northern Iraq Army News 04 Oct 2005 -- Iraqi security forces and Soldiers from Task Force Freedom detained 49 suspected terrorists, killed two insurgents, injured another two, and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq Sep. 30 - Oct. 3.
• Iraqi, U.S. Soldiers nab 78 terror suspects Army News 04 Oct 2005 -- Iraqi security forces and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers captured 78 suspected terrorists and seized eight weapons caches during operations throughout the city, from Sept. 28 to 30.

• AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, COALITION LEADERS MEET IN TRIPARTITE COMMISSION CENTCOM 04 Oct 2005 -- The Tripartite Commission, composed of senior military and diplomatic representatives from Afghanistan , Pakistan and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, held its thirteenth meeting in Rawalpindi, Pakistan today.
• Afghanistan: France Wants To Keep Separate Commands For ISAF And Combat Forces RFE/RL 04 Oct 2005 -- France has told visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Paris favors keeping separate commands for the United Nations security assistance mission and U.S.-led combat operations in Afghanistan.
• Pakistan Security Forces Arrest Taliban Spokesman RFE/RL 04 Oct 2005 -- Pakistani security forces have arrested Abdul Latif Hakimi, the purported chief spokesman for Afghanistan's ousted Taliban.

• Comfort, Local NOLA Doctors Establish Trauma Treatment Unit Navy NewsStand 04 Oct 2005 -- Medical staff on board USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) and local New Orleans physicians began treating trauma patients aboard the hospital ship Oct. 3 in a landmark partnership between the Navy and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
• JTF Katrina Commander Visits Comfort Navy NewsStand 04 Oct 2005 -- Joint Task Force Katrina Commander Lt. Gen. Russel Honore visited hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) Oct. 3 for a commander’s assessment meeting with area JTF commanders.
• NMCB 40 Erects Housing Units in Support of Katrina Relief Efforts Navy NewsStand 04 Oct 2005 -- Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 40’s Delta Company worked alongside the men and women of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in September to set up a crucial berthing area in support of local disaster recovery efforts after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.
• Total Force Manning Emergency Coordination Center During Hurricane Response Navy NewsStand 04 Oct 2005 -- Navy officers and enlisted members, as well as civilian contractors, formed a team to man Navy Personnel Command’s Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) here to support the victims of Hurricane Katrina Aug. 30, a day after the hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast.

Other Conflicts

• NIGERIA-SUDAN: Darfur rivals begin direct talks amid growing international irritation IRIN 04 Oct 2005 -- After two weeks of peace talks and amid signs that world patience is running thin, rival parties in Sudan's Darfur conflict finally entered face-to-face negotiations this week on the key issues that need to be resolved before reaching a deal.
• Kosovo: Annan receives comprehensive review report ahead of final status talks UN News Centre 04 Oct 2005 -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan today received a report on Kosovo that could influence the timing of talks on the final status of the ethnically-divided province, which the United Nations has run since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) drove out Yugoslav troops amid grave human rights abuses in fighting between Albanians and Serbs in 1999.
• Security Council calls on Rwandan rebel group to disarm, leave DR of Congo UN News Centre 04 Oct 2005 -- Expressing its concern that foreign armed groups remain in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Security Council today deplored the failure of a Rwandan rebel group to disarm and repatriate, as it had pledged to do in March, and welcomed the DRC's plans to disarm an incoming Ugandan rebel group.
• Darfur Talks Ongoing, with U.S. Encouragement Washington File 04 Oct 2005 -- The Sudanese government and rebels are continuing their negotiations, not long after a high-level U.S. delegation visited the troubled Darfur region of the country.
• United States Condemns Upsurge of Violence in Darfur Washington File 04 Oct 2005 -- The United States welcomes the African Union's prompt investigation and forceful and candid condemnation of the violence in Darfur and “strongly condemns” the upsurge in violence there by all parties, the U.S. State Department said October 4.
• Residents Struggle to Find Peace in Southern Thailand VOA 04 Oct 2005 -- More than 1,000 people have died in the past 21 months as violence in Thailand's troubled south continues unabated.
• Congo Soldiers Deployed to Deal with Ugandan Rebels VOA 04 Oct 2005 -- Hundreds of Congolese soldiers have begun arriving in a remote Congolese bush town near an area where about 300 Ugandan rebels are refusing to disarm.
• SUDAN: AU security council to hold emergency session on Darfur IRIN 04 Oct 2005 -- The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) has called an emergency meeting to discuss the worsening security situation in Sudan's western region of Darfur where rampant ceasefire violations have resulted in dozens of deaths and further displacement.
• DRC: Thousands return to Ituri gold town after army ousts rebels IRIN 04 Oct 2005 -- Some 5,000 civilians who fled fighting last week between the army and local armed groups in a gold mining area of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s Ituri District began returning to their homes on Monday, a Roman Catholic clergyman said.
• US Circulating UN Resolution To Have UN Troops Arrest Charles Taylor VOA 04 Oct 2005 -- The United States reportedly is circulating a resolution that calls on UN peacekeepers in Liberia to arrest former president Charles Taylor should he return home. Mr. Taylor has been living in exile in Nigeria since august 2003 but has been indicted on war crimes charges by the UN-backed special court in Sierra Leone.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Army Updates Detainee Operations Information Oct. 4 Army News Release 04 Oct 2005 -- The Army continued its effort to keep the public informed concerning detainee operations by releasing documents Oct. 4 pursuant to Freedom of Information Act litigation with the American Civil Liberties Union.
• US Military Helps AU Peacekeepers Move Into Western Darfur VOA 04 Oct 2005 -- U.S. planes and troops have begun airlifting Rwandan peacekeepers into Sudan's western Darfur region.
• U.S. delivering F-15s to South Korea Air Force AFPN 04 Oct 2005 -- The two newest F-15 Eagles off the Boeing production line in St. Louis are on their way to South Korea.
• Security escorts eyes, ears for base security AFPN 04 Oct 2005 -- In fact, the 376th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron’s security escorts are referred to as the frontline of defense and the eyes and ears of security forces here.
• Special Panel to Identify Fixes for DoD's Acquisition Woes AFPS 04 Oct 2005 -- The U.S. military's weapons-development and acquisition programs are broken and need big fixes, a senior Defense Department official said here Oct 3.
• U.S. Army to Provide Rosetta Stone® Foreign Language Training Army News Release 04 Oct 2005 -- The U.S. Army will make foreign-language training available at no cost to all active Army, National Guard, Reservists and Department of Army civilian personnel worldwide through its Distributed Learning System’s Army e-Learning, under the Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems.
• SecArmy opens AUSA with thoughts on future Army News 04 Oct 2005 -- Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey opened the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army with a speech that touched on the service and sacrifice of American Soldiers and his thoughts on how the Army is transforming to meet the threats of the 21st century.
• Communications Key to Exercise Malabar 2005 Navy NewsStand 04 Oct 2005 -- The U.S. and Indian navies are using the CENTRIX systems to bridge the gap of communications during Malabar '05, the annual, bilateral exercise currently being held in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Goa, India.
• Navy Telecommunications Area Master Station in Europe Disestablished Navy NewsStand 04 Oct 2005 -- The Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station (NCTAMS), Europe Central (EURCENT) was disestablished Oct. 1 and redesignated as Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station (NCTS) Naples.
• Tarawa Participates in Bright Star 2005 Navy NewsStand 04 Oct 2005 -- USS Tarawa (LHA 1), along with 16,000 boots on the ground, several ships at sea and the flags of 12 nations flying over Egypt, operated off the coast of Egypt for exercise Bright Star 2005 Sept. 10-Oct. 3.

• State Department Briefing, October 4 Washington File 04 Oct 2005 -- Sudan, Department, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Cyprus, Iraq, Russia, Iran, Croatia

Defense Industry

News Reports

• Is Arab Democracy Possible Without Islamists? VOA 04 Oct 2005 -- Until the September 11th terrorist attacks, a lack of political freedom in the Middle East generally provoked little international outcry.
• EU Opens Membership Talks With Turkey, Croatia VOA 04 Oct 2005 -- The European Union has begun membership talks with Turkey, despite deep public skepticism in Europe that the bloc will ever manage to absorb the populous, overwhelmingly Muslim nation.