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Operations
Deployments
US Policy
United Nations
Reconstruction Issues
Foreign Reactions
News Reports

Current Operations

• Iraq: U.S. Experts Find No Chemical Agents In Suspect Shells RFE/RL 19 Jan 2004 -- The Danish army says laboratory tests carried out on recently discovered Iraqi mortar shells have ended suspicions that the ordnance contained a chemical agent.
• Iraq: Baghdad Bomb Attack At U.S. Headquarters Kills At Least 20 RFE/RL 19 Jan 2004 -- At least 20 people were killed and many more injured when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed pick-up truck early today outside the security gates of the U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Baghdad.
• Two UK soldiers injured in blast in southern Iraq PLA Daily 19 Jan 2004 -- The British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that two British soldiers sustained slight injuries when a roadside bomb exploded close to them in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
• Major deadly attacks in Iraq since the Iraq war begins PLA Daily 19 Jan 2004 -- A suicide driver blew up a car near the headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad Sunday morning, killing at least 16 Iraqi civilians and two Americans.

Deployments

US Policy

• Presidential Envoy James Baker to Discuss Reduction of Iraq's Debt Washington File 19 Jan 2004 -- The White House announced January 19 that Special Presidential Envoy James A. Baker is traveling to the Gulf region January 19-22 to discuss the reduction of Iraq's official debt
• Iraq Part of Global War Against Terrorism, Powell Asserts Washington File 19 Jan 2004 -- The United States considers Iraq a part of the worldwide war against terrorism and not a diversion, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a January 16 interview with ABC Australia.

United Nations

• Bremer Hopes U.N. Will Participate in Transition Process Washington File 19 Jan 2004 -- The meeting among United Nations officials, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) reached "broad agreement on the importance of the U.N. resuming its role in Iraq" in both the short term and long term, CPA Administrator Paul Bremer said January 19.
• Annan Considering Request for Election Assessment Washington File 19 Jan 2004 -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said January 19 that he will consider a request from the Iraq Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to send a technical mission to advise on the holding of general elections before June 30.
• U.N. Asked to Send Election Assessment Team to Iraq Washington File 19 Jan 2004 -- Secretary General Kofi Annan said January 19 that he will begin immediately exploring the possibility of sending a team of U.N. election experts to Iraq to determine the feasibility of holding elections before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to an Iraqi transitional government.
• Security Council hears from Iraqi delegation on UN's future role UN News centre 19 Jan 2004 -- The Security Council heard a briefing today on the future role of the United Nations in Iraq from top Iraqi officials, who said a return of the UN to the country was key to the process of restoring sovereignty to the Iraqi people.
• U-N / IRAQ MEETING VOA 19 Jan 2004 -- The United Nations is considering whether to send a team to Iraq to mediate a dispute over the timing of forthcoming elections. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's meetings with U-S and Iraqi officials have moved the world body closer to assuming a lead role in Iraq's transition to self-rule.
• Iraq's Governing Council and coalition officials welcome UN involvement AFPS 19 Jan 2004 -- Senior officials from the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalitional Provisional Authority today welcomed the involvement of the United Nations in the transitional period ahead, following talks in New York with Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
• Annan to mull request for UN advice on possibility of elections for Iraq UN News Centre 19 Jan 2004 -- Emerging from what he called "a very frank and open" exchange of views with top coalition and Iraqi officials, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today he is considering a request by the parties that he send an advisory team to Iraq to examine the feasibility of elections before the end of June as well as possible alternatives.

Reconstruction Issues

• CPA Announces $18 Billion Iraq Jobs, Reconstruction Program AFPS 19 Jan 2004 -- A senior Coalition Provisional Authority official today announced an $18 billion jobs and reconstruction program for Iraq that aims to create 50,000 jobs by the June 30 handover of sovereignty.
• Iraqi, U.S. Officials Ask For UN Advice On Election Feasibility RFE/RL 19 Jan 2004 -- U.S. officials and Iraqi leaders today asked the United Nations to send a team to Iraq to advise on the feasibility of quick elections or alternatives in selecting a new Iraqi government.
• Iraq: Bremer Airs Doubts About Iraq Vote RFE/RL 19 Jan 2004 -- L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator in Baghdad, met with President George W. Bush on 16 January to discuss plans for transferring political power to Iraq and said afterwards doubts remain about holding direct elections before the end of June. But he held out for a compromise.
• Iraq: Sunnis Say They Are Ready To Fight For The Rights Of Their Community RFE/RL 19 Jan 2004 -- Iraq's minority Sunni Muslims, who held the majority of the power under deposed President Saddam Hussein's rule, are finding a newly unified political voice -- one that strongly opposes the U.S. occupation. Late last month, dozens of Sunni leaders from across the country convened a Sunni State Council. Analysts say the step indicates that Iraq's Sunnis are seeking a bigger role in the country's future.
• IRAQ-DEMONSTRATION VOA 19 Jan 2004 -- Tens-of-thousands of Iraq's Shi'ite Muslims rallied peacefully in Baghdad in support of early elections.

Foreign Reactions

• Iraq: First Japanese Troops Arrive On Reconstruction Mission RFE/RL 19 Jan 2004 -- Japan deployed an advance team to southeastern Iraq today as it prepares to send up to 600 soldiers to the country by late March. The troops, the first dispatched by Tokyo to a hostile region since World War II, are to support reconstruction and humanitarian projects.
• BRITAIN / MILITARY VOA 19 Jan 2004 -- The widow of a British soldier killed in Iraq after he was ordered to hand back his body armor has met British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon, and she says he refuses to accept responsibility for her husband's death.
• Pressure to be built on US and its allies for going to war IRNA 19 Jan 2004 -- Condemning use of power by the US against other countries, Chandra Muzaffar at the World Social Forum said on Sunday that pressure needs to be built on the US and its allies for going to war, local press reported here on Monday.
• UK defense chief faces censure over body armor for UK troops:report PLA Daily 19 Jan 2004 -- British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon was to be censured in a parliamentary report as the row over fatal shortages of equipment for British troops in Iraq intensified, the British Independent newspaper reported on Sunday.
• JAPAN/IRAQ TROOPS VOA 19 Jan 2004 -- As the first Japanese soldiers headed into Iraq Monday, Japan's prime minister defended his order for the dispatch.
• UK intelligence officer to face secrets charge next month IRNA 19 Jan 2004 -- A British intelligence officer, accused of leaking a confidential memo about alleged American dirty tricks in the run-up to the Iraq war, is to face charges under the UK`s Official Secrets Act next month.

News Reports

• BAGHDAD DEMO VOA 19 Jan 2004 -- Thousands of people marched in Baghdad to support a call by senior Shi'ite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for national elections by June.