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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 20 May 2004 [PDF]
• ONE SOLDIER KILLED, THREE WOUNDED IN BAGHDAD
• ONE FIRST INFANTRY DIVISION SOLDIER KILLED, TWO WOUNDED
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty

• Transcript: Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing 20 May 2004 -- Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Coalition Operations and Dan Senor, Senior Advisor, CPA
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 20 May 2004 -- American military commanders in Iraq are investigating what Iraqis say was a deadly attack by U-S warplanes on civilians in a remote area of the country near the Syrian border. Residents say the attack was unprovoked, but the American command in Baghdad says intelligence suggesting the area was a haven of foreign fighters was borne out by what was found on the ground.
• Insurgent Route Was Struck, Not Wedding Party, U.S. Maintains AFPS 20 May 2004 -- Insurgents using a smuggling route for foreign fighters and weaponry entering Iraq were the targets of a May 19 strike near the Iraq-Syrian border, a senior military spokesman said at a Baghdad news conference today.
• Dismounted sappers take on Karbala's mean streets ARCENT Release 20 May 2004-- The late morning skies were overcast and a breeze blew through the trees. The air was cooler than usual. The order came over the radio for the troops to dismount.
• Marines prepare ICDC for Iraqi control Marine Corps News 20 May 2004-- Marines in the shadow of the city housing the prison by the same name are carrying out a quiet and essential mission to turn over Iraq's responsibility back to Iraqis.

Deployments

US Policy

• Coalition Provisional Authority Report, May 20: Iraq Update Washington File 20 May 2004 -- The Iraqi Ministry of Education has received an emergency $40 million grant from the World Bank to purchase schoolbooks for the fall term, a spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) says.
• Powell Calls for International Support for Iraq's Transition Process Washington File 20 May 2004 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell called for international support for the efforts of U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to form an interim Iraqi government to assume sovereignty on June 30.
• Transcript: DoD Background Briefing 20 May 2004 -- Lawrence Di Rita and Senior Defense Official
• PENTAGON/PRISONER ABUSE VOA 20 May 2004 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says investigations of the Iraqi prison abuse scandal are diverting the attention of senior Pentagon officials from the security situation in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld's complaint comes amid new questions about the extent of the Pentagon's cooperation with congressional probes into the scandal.
• Soldier Sentenced to One-Year Confinement AFPS 20 May 2004 -- The first soldier to receive a court martial in connection with the Abu Ghraib prison abuse was sentenced May 19 in Baghdad.
• Commanders in Iraq Ordered Humane Treatment of Detainees AFPS 20 May 2004 -- The U.S. general in command of operations in Iraq repeatedly ordered humane treatment of detainees, he told senators here May 19.
• All Red Cross Reports Now to Go Through Miller AFPS 20 May 2004 -- All reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross on detainee operations by the U.S. military in Iraq will now go through a single senior point of contact.
• Iraq: Top U.S. Generals Face Congress Over Prisoner Abuse RFE/RL 20 May 2004 -- The two generals in charge of U.S. operations in Iraq have been called before the U.S. Congress to explain publicly how American soldiers under their command could be permitted -- or perhaps even ordered -- to inflict on prisoners abuse banned by the Geneva Conventions. The generals admitted to some coordination and chain-of-command problems in the occupation of Iraq. But they insisted that the abuse was not widespread and that their investigation into the scandal will be thorough.

United Nations

• U-N / OIL FOR FOOD VOA 20 May 2004 -- The head of the U-N appointed panel that is looking into allegations of corruption in the Iraq oil-for-food program says competing investigations are waging a tug of war over (are arguing over) access to possibly incriminating documents. The panel will focus first on charges of misconduct by U-N staff.
• Iraq: Brahimi meets Red Cross envoy on state of detainees in Abu Ghraib prison UN News Centre 20 May 2004 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, today discussed with the Baghdad envoy of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) the situation of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib and other prisons following reports of abuse and humiliation by United States and other coalition forces.

Reconstruction Issues

Foreign Reactions

• IRAQ / CHALABI VOA 20 May 2004 -- Senior Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi says his relationship with the U-S-led administration in Baghdad is now, in his words, non-existent. His comments Thursday followed early morning raids on his house and office in Baghdad by Iraqi police, backed by U-S troops. The raids have underscored Mr. Chalabi's increasingly strained relations with the United States.

News Reports

• Iraq: Red Cross Criticizes U.S. For Air Strikes Near Syrian Border RFE/RL 20 May 2004 -- The International Committee of the Red Cross today condemned what it called the "excessive" use of force by the U.S. military following claims by Iraqi officials that U.S. air strikes yesterday killed more than 40 people at a wedding party near the Syrian border.