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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 31 Aug 2007 [PDF]
• MNF-W forces attacked
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• Aug. 29 airpower summary: KC-135 off-loads fuel for GWOT AFPN 31 Aug 2007 -- Coalition airpower supported Coalition ground forces in Iraq and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in the following operations August 29, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
• Aug. 30 airpower summary: C-130's move people, supplies AFPN 31 Aug 2007 -- Coalition airpower supported coalition ground forces in Iraq and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan during operations August 30, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
• Provincial Reconstruction Team Chief Sees Steady Progress in Mosul AFPS 31 Aug 2007 -- Iraqi citizens are steadily rebuilding their lives with help from U.S. provincial reconstruction teams, a team leader said from Mosul, Iraq, yesterday.
• Coalition Forces Kill Five Terrorists, Detain 37 AFPS 31 Aug 2007 -- Five terrorists were killed and 37 suspected terrorists were detained today as coalition forces continued to put pressure on al Qaeda’s operations in Iraq.
• Stennis Returns Home From Deployment Navy NewsStand 31 Aug 2007 -- USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) returned to its homeport of Bremerton, Aug. 31, after a successful seven and a half month deployment.
• USS Denver Provides Medical Assistance to Fisherman in Central Persian Gulf Navy NewsStand 31 Aug 2007 -- Crew members from USS Denver (LPD 9) rendered medical assistance to an ailing fisherman aboard a Qatari-flagged dhow Aug. 30 while conducting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in the Central Persian Gulf.
• Failed Attack Leaves 12 Taliban Dead in Afghanistan AFPS 31 Aug 2007 -- Afghan national security forces, advised by coalition forces, defeated an insurgent attack yesterday near Regay Village on the east side of the Musa Qalah Wadi in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.
• Afghan Police Need Martial Skills to Engage Taliban, U.S. Officer Says AFPS 31 Aug 2007 -- A new U.S. command in southern Afghanistan is working to improve the martial capabilities of local police who confront battle-hardened Taliban insurgents, a senior U.S. officer said today.
• NMCB-7 Corpsmen Breathe Life and Health into Afghan Villages Navy NewsStand 31 Aug 2007 -- After a special forces team secured a compound in a local village outside a forward operating base in Afghanistan, Aug. 15, a medical team prepared to move in.
• Taliban should be ashamed of itself for seizing civilians, says UN envoy in Afghanistan UN News Centre 31 Aug 2007 -- While welcoming last night’s final release of South Korean hostages in Afghanistan, the top United Nations envoy in the country said the Taliban rebels who took them captive and killed two of them should be ashamed of themselves for attacking civilians.
• Negotiations Questioned After Taliban Releases Hostages RFE/RL 31 Aug 2007 -- The negotiations that led to the release of 19 South Korean hostages this week by their Taliban captors are being described as a "triumph" for the Taliban by some western politicians and analysts.
• Afghanistan: Man Felt 'Duty' To Deliver Korean Hostages To Freedom RFE/RL 31 Aug 2007 -- Haji Zahir Kharoti is an Afghan tribal elder from Ghazni Province who served as a mediator between the Taliban and the Afghan government during the six-week South Korean hostage crisis.
• S. Korean Embassy in Russia denies ransom was paid to Taliban RIA Novosti 31 Aug 2007 -- South Korea's embassy in Moscow denied reports that Seoul paid a ransom to Taliban insurgents to secure the release of Korean Christian volunteers in central Afghanistan.
• South Koreans Apologize for Hostage Ordeal in Afghanistan VOA 31 Aug 2007 -- Two of 19 South Koreans released by Taleban kidnappers in Afghanistan have apologized to the South Korean people and government for the ordeal.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Airborne Laser Successfully Completes Low-Power Flight Testing Missile Defense Agency 31 Aug 2007 -- Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering III, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today that the Airborne Laser (ABL) program has completed one of its most important milestones to-date
• Gates Swears in Cartwright as Vice Chairman AFPS 31 Aug 2007 -- Following a series of meetings at the Pentagon and the White House, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates swore in Marine Gen. James E. “Hoss” Cartwright as the eighth vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today.
• USTRANSCOM ready for worst hurricanes can muster AFPN 31 Aug 2007 -- As Hurricane Dean converged on the Gulf of Mexico in August, members of the U.S. Transportation Command were prepared for the worst its winds could muster.
• Air Force makes changes to special duty assignment pay AFPN 31 Aug 2007 -- Air Force officials have made changes to the special duty assignment pay program as a result of an annual review, and cuts to the special and incentive pay budget.
• Navy Customs Battalion Tango Gets Ready Navy NewsStand 31 Aug 2007 -- Navy reservists that are part of Navy Customs Battalion (NCB) Tango began pre-deployment training Aug. 20 in Williamsburg to prepare for a six-month deployment to Kuwait and Iraq.
• VAQ-137 Wins Tactical Excellence Award Navy NewsStand 31 Aug 2007 -- The “Rooks” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 137 were awarded the 2007 Prowler Tactical Excellence Award on Aug. 25.
• Hawaii Hosts Seventh Annual Asia-Pacific Submarine Conference Navy NewsStand 31 Aug 2007 -- Thirteen nations, including the United States, sent representatives of their submarine forces to the Seventh Annual Asia-Pacific Submarine Conference Aug. 27-29 at the Hilton Hawaiian Villages Hotel in Waikiki.
• Press Briefing by Tony Snow The White House 31 Aug 2007

Defense Industry

• DoD News: Contracts for August 31, 2007
• Boeing-led Airborne Laser Team Completes 'Low Power' Flight Tests and Prepares to Install High Energy Laser Boeing 31 Aug 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency successfully demonstrated in flight tests that the Airborne Laser's battle management and beam control/fire control systems can complete the full series of steps required to support a ballistic missile intercept.
• LOCKHEED MARTIN DEMONSTRATES IN-FLIGHT BEAM CONTROL FOR MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY'S AIRBORNE LASER Lockheed Martin 31 Aug 2007 -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) announced today that the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser (ABL) team has demonstrated the capability to accurately point and focus the elements of the Lockheed Martin-developed Beam Control/Fire Control system on an airborne target.
• U.S. Army Awards General Dynamics $24 Million for M107 Metal Parts Production General Dynamics 31 Aug 2007 -- The U.S. Army Sustainment Command at Rock Island, Ill., has awarded General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems $24.2 million for the first year of a multi-year contract for the production of M107 projectile metal parts.

Other Conflicts

• MALI: Indignation dominates reaction as attacks in north escalate IRIN 31 Aug 2007 -- In a spate of attacks by armed militias in north-eastern Mali over the last week at least 35 soldiers have been kidnapped and 11 people killed by newly laid landmines, raising fears that escalating violence in neighbouring Niger is spreading to Mali.
• Member States and UN to enhance police peacekeeping training for Darfur UN News Centre 31 Aug 2007 -- Top United Nations and Member States’ police and human security officials today pledged to enhance training for UN Police (UNPOL) officers preparing to serve as peacekeepers in Sudan’s Darfur region in what will be the largest single UN Police contingent ever with more than 6,400 officers.
• Kosovars will go to polls in November, UN envoy says UN News Centre 31 Aug 2007 -- The senior United Nations envoy to Kosovo announced today that municipal, assembly and mayoral elections will be held on 17 November in the Serbian province administered by the United Nations since 1999.
• USAID Works To Break Link Between Hunger and Conflict Washington File 31 Aug 2007 -- The U.S. Food for Peace Program teams with the United Nations and humanitarian aid organizations to help break the link between hunger and armed conflict by building greater food security.
• UN Says Humanitarian Situation Worsening in Darfur VOA 31 Aug 2007 -- The U.N. Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Margareta Wahlstrom, says the humanitarian situation in Sudan's western Darfur region is worsening
• DRC: First displaced return home to Masisi IRIN 31 Aug 2007 -- Thousands of villagers who had fled the first clashes between the army (FARDC) and militias close to renegade general Laurent Nkunda in the Masisi hills, North Kivu province, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are starting to return home, according to UN sources.

News Reports

• UN Investigator Asks Burma to Release Protesters VOA 31 Aug 2007 -- The United Nations special investigator on human rights in Burma is asking authorities there to free all the people who were arrested in a rare string of anti-government protests.
• Political Showdown Looms in Pakistan VOA 31 Aug 2007 -- Pakistan braces for a major political showdown a day after exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif announced his return on September 10
• Middle East: Terrorism Expert Calls For Ban On Hizballah In Europe RFE/RL 31 Aug 2007 -- Alexander Ritzmann, senior fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels, is leading a campaign to have Hizballah declared a terrorist organization in Europe