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Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 23 Mar 2006 [PDF]

• IRAQ OPERATIONAL UPDATE BRIEFING MNF-I 23 Mar 2006
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing with Secretary Rumsfeld and Adm. Giambastiani 23 Mar 2006 -- Presenter: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
• CENTAF releases daily airpower summary AFPN 23 Mar 2006 -- U.S. Central Command Air Forces officials released today’s airpower summary.
• Operation Swarmer Ends With All Objectives Met AFPS 23 Mar 2006 -- Operation Swarmer, a combined operation involving Iraqi soldiers and police commandos and coalition forces wrapped up yesterday without any casualties and all of the tactical objectives met, Multinational Force Iraq officials announced today.
• Coalition Operation Frees Hostages Held Since November AFPS 23 Mar 2006 -- Coalition forces rescued three hostages held by terrorists in Iraq since November in an early morning raid today, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said.
• Coalition Forces Rescue Three Kidnapped Peace Activists in Iraq Washington File 23 Mar 2006 -- Coalition forces successfully freed three kidnapped Western aid workers who had been held by Iraqi insurgents for four months, U.S. Major General Rick Lynch announced March 23.
• 10th Mountain Division finds, destroys explosives Army News 23 Mar 2006 -- Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, discovered four caches in Abu Ghraib during a five-day period beginning March 11.
• 3 Western Hostages Freed During British-Led Raid in Iraq VOA 23 Mar 2006 -- A British-led raid in Iraq has freed three Western Christian peace activists who had been held nearly four months by a Muslim militant group.
• Ten Enemies Killed, One Detained in Iraq, Afghanistan Operations AFPS 23 Mar 2006 -- Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan on March 21 left 10 enemy fighters dead, military officials reported.
• UN mission in Afghanistan extended for one more year UN News Centre 23 Mar 2006 --The United Nations Security Council this morning extended the mandate of the four year-old United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which expires 24 March, for an additional 12 months in order to continue assisting the Afghan leadership during the next phase of rebuilding the country.
• Pakistani Officials Say Afghan Forces Killed Civilians, Not Taleban VOA 23 Mar 2006 -- Pakistani officials say at least 16 people killed by Afghan forces this week were Pakistani civilians and not Taleban fighters as previously claimed.

Other Conflicts

• Authorities Arrest Opposition Leader, Nepal's Maoists Wound 3 VOA 23 Mar 2006 -- Nepalese police have arrested a top opposition leader in the capital, Kathmandu, and Maoist rebels have opened fire at a busy marketplace in southern Nepal, wounding three people.
• Security Council calls for end to violence in Burundi UN News Centre 23 Mar 2006 -- While welcoming progress in Burundi’s emergence from a 12-year civil war, the Security Council today called for the immediate end to hostilities and human rights abuses that it said continue to be committed by both rebels and Government forces.
• BURUNDI: Dar invites Bujumbura for FNL peace talks IRIN 23 Mar 2006 -- Burundi has received an invitation from Tanzania to attend peace negotiations with the country's remaining rebel group, the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) led by Agathon Rwasa, the spokesman of the Burundian government, Ramadhan Karenga, has said.
• LIBERIA: ‘Bloated’ war-time government workforce gets peace-time axe IRIN 23 Mar 2006 -- The new peace-time government of Liberia has begun laying off thousands of government workers, some because they fail to show up for work, others because they cannot read or write, in a bid to slash the swollen payroll after 14 years of on-off civil war.
• SOMALIA: Thousands flee militia fighting in Mogadishu IRIN 23 Mar 2006 -- Thousands of people, especially women and children, were fleeing their homes in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Thursday as fighting between rival militias entered a second day, witnesses said.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Naval Air Training Aligns with Naval Air Forces Navy NewsStand 23 Mar 2006 -- Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA), headquartered in Corpus Christi, Texas, began to align under the San Diego-based Commander, Naval Air Forces (CNAF) in March as part of the Naval Aviation Enterprise's (NAE) continuing efforts to create greater efficiency and synchronization while increasing aviation war-fighting readiness.
• CNO, NAE Leaders Discuss Navy Priorities with Industry Leaders Navy NewsStand 23 Mar 2006 -- Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen spoke March 8 at this year’s Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Symposium to 300 naval aviation and industry leaders about priorities in today’s Navy.
• Airborne Mine Countermeasures Community Hosts Seminar to Advance Tactics Navy NewsStand 23 Mar 2006 -- Sponsored by the Mine Warfare Program Office, the seventh Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) Advanced Tactics Continuum was held at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City (NSWC PC) March 13-17.
• Joint Force Elements Improve Crisis Response, Combat Ops AFPS 23 Mar 2006 -- The concept of a standing joint force headquarters core element is proving its value in Iraq and elsewhere around the world, senior officers at U.S. Joint Forces Command said.
• Rumsfeld: U.S. Must Go 'All the Way' to Counter Terrorism AFPS 23 Mar 2006 -- The only way to prevail in the war against violent extremists is "if we are in it all the way," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters today.
• Army, AF Announce Joint Cargo Aircraft Program Army News 23 Mar 2006 -- Army and Air Force officials announced March 17 that a new Joint Cargo Aircraft, designed to enhance the combat readiness of both services, will be developed by a combined team. Fielding of the new aircraft is expected within two years.
• US Security Strategy Reaffirms Preemptive War Doctrine VOA 23 Mar 2006 -- The White House recently released a new national security strategy that reaffirms President Bush's doctrine of preemptive war, but says diplomacy is the strong preference in combating the threat of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction
• State Department Briefing, March 23 Washington File 23 Mar 2006 -- Iran, Iraq, Italy, China/Taiwan, Afghanistan, Chile, Ethiopia
• White House Briefing, March 23 Washington File 23 Mar 2006 -- Immigration reform, speeches on war on terror/questions, U.S. troops in Iraq/length of stay, Iraq/new government, Louisiana/Voting Rights Act, Afghanistan/religious freedom, Iraq/hostage release, upcoming elections/president's agenda

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for March 23, 2006

News Reports

• NIGERIA: Deaths, delays and disruptions mar national census IRIN 23 Mar 2006 -- At least 10 people have died as Nigeria’s first census in 15 years takes place this week amid violence, delays and disruptions across the country.
• AFRICA: China's great leap into the continent IRIN 23 Mar 2006 -- Providing cheap goods to African consumers is one way China is making inroads into the continent, but on a more fundamental level China is also engaged in a scramble for African resources to feed a roaring economy, expected to overtake Britain's as the fourth largest in the world by the end of 2006.