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Further Reading

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 18 Aug 2004 [PDF]
• MARINE KILLED IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE
• ONE TASK FORCE BAGHDAD SOLDIER KILLED TODAY
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty

• Situations in Iraq Leaves Persons Dead, Wounded, Detained AFPS 18 Aug 2004 -- Violence in Iraq left one U.S. soldier dead and seven Multinational Force soldiers wounded today.
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 18 Aug 2004 -- A firebrand Iraqi Islamic cleric is reported to have agreed to withdraw his armed militia from around the city of Najaf. The news came as a conference chose a national council to oversee the workings of the Iraqi interim government.
• Military Showdown in Najaf Apparently Averted VOA News 18 Aug 2004 -- Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has sent a letter to a meeting of Iraqi religious and political leaders in Baghdad agreeing to government demands to end an uprising in the holy city of Najaf.
• ABU GHRAIB FIGHT LEAVES TWO DETAINEES DEAD, FIVE WOUNDED CENTCOM 18 Aug 2004 -- A fight that broke out among detainees at the Abu Ghraib detention facility early this morning resulted in the death of two detainees, with five others wounded.
• MNF assist in restoring order to Al Hayy MNF-I/MNC-I 18 Aug 2004 -- Task Force Tomahawk deployed Aug. 17 from Camp Delta in Al Kut to Al Hayy at the request of the governor of Al Kut Province to restore civil order to the city of Al Hayy.
• Fighting Resumes In Al-Najaf After Peace Mission Fails RFE/RL 18 Aug 2004 -- There has been renewed fighting in the Iraqi city of Al-Najaf between U.S. and Iraqi troops and Shi'a militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Deployments

US Policy

• U.S.-Sadr-Najaf VOA 18 Aug 2004 -- Here in Washington, U.S. officials are giving a cautious welcome to reports that radical Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will end his rebellion in Najaf. The militia leader pledged to disarm in a letter to the national political conference in Baghdad.
• Sadr Situation 'Will Have to Change,' Rumsfeld Says AFPS 18 Aug 2004 -- The Iraqi government will eventually have to deal with the problem of renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia, DoD's senior civilian told a noted journalist Aug. 17.
• Use of Force in Iraq Was Justified, Rumsfeld Says AFPS 18 Aug 2004 -- War is "a ugly, tough business," but sometimes it's necessary to resort to war to achieve important goals, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said on PBS' "Newshour With Jim Lehrer" Aug. 17.
• U.S. Would Welcome Al-Sadr Withdrawal RFE/RL 18 Aug 2004 -- The U.S. State Department is reacting cautiously to news reports that radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has accepted a peace plan to end fighting in the Iraqi holy city of Al-Najaf.

United Nations

Reconstruction Issues

• IRAQ/CONFERENCE VOA 18 Aug 2004 -- Delegates at a national conference in Iraq say radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to disarm and withdraw his militia from a sacred shrine in the holy city of Najaf. Also during the fourth day of the meeting, delegates named a new national council to oversee the interim government.
• FIRST NEW GENERATOR COMES ON LINE IN IRAQ CENTCOM 18 Aug 2004 -- The first new electricity generator since 1976 came online today in Southern Iraq, adding enough electricity to the national grid to service nearly 120,000 homes.
• IRAQ: Refugee returns suspended due to insecurity and housing shortage - UNHCR IRIN 18 Aug 2004 -- Refugees returns from Iran have temporarily suspended over the past 10 days, due to insecurity in the south and a shortage of housing in the north of Iraq, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday.

Foreign Reactions

News Reports

• IRAQ/LEBANON TRADE VOA 18 Aug 2004 -- Violence in Iraq has all but shattered Lebanon's trade with that country. According to the Lebanese truck drivers association, road transport is down 70-percent and shipments to Iraq through Lebanon's Tripoli port have been cut in half.