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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Reservists support air bridge AFPN 06 Mar 2003 -- More than half of Air Force Reserve Command's 10,000 mobilized reservists are helping to move troops, equipment and cargo to the Middle East as America prepares for possible war with Iraq.
• Submarine Base Seabee Unit Deployed to Middle East Navy NewStand 06 Mar 2003 -- Since the first construction battalion personnel started processing through Gulfport, Miss., in 1942, Seabees have been building on the front lines of every conflict, and then defending what they build.
• Camp Patriot Helps Train Peninsula Shield Forces Navy NewStand 06 Mar 2003 -- Approximately 100 United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailors and Airmen participated in coalition forces chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) training conducted by U.S. Navy members recently.
• 'Red Patchers' pack, lock & hook; Team makes practice picture perfect USMC News 06 Mar 2003 -- Packing nets, locking straps and hooking thousands of pounds of cargo to the bottom of a helicopter is nothing new for most Marine Corps landing support specialists. Ask many of them and they'll tell you they can do it with their eyes closed. Now, add desert sands, an unpaved landing zone and even more unpredictable winds, the specialists will tell you the scenario is a little different.
• RAF Fairford sees increase in people, mail USAFENS 06 Mar 2003 -- The post office at Royal Air Force Fairford, England, is getting a lot more mail these days due to a large influx of deployed personnel here.

• 'Viper' catches eight Taliban Army News 06 Ma 2003 -- In a village U.S. Army planners didn't know existed, soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., found one of their biggest successes of Operation Viper -- capturing eight known or suspected Taliban and a clutch of weapons and ammunition March 2.
• AFGHANISTAN: Interview with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- With the possibility of another huge refugee crisis in the making in and around Iraq, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers has visited Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to oversee the largest ongoing repatriation effort in decades. In an interview with IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, Lubbers predicted that despite the uncertainties, hundreds of thousands of Afghans would return home in 2003.
• AFGHANISTAN: Focus on rebuilding irrigation IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- As farmer Ghulam Sakhi sat picking corn at a government-run nursery in Qarghah on the -outskirts of the capital, Kabul, he told IRIN nothing brought him as much pleasure as to see crops growing once again on land that had been fallow for years. “We are being given our livelihoods back. This used to be such a beautiful place, full of fruit and vegetables,” he said.

Defense Policy / Programs

• New unit will handle wartime activations USMC News 06 Mar 2003 -- The Marine Corps is maneuvering to make sure Reserve call-ups and integration during wartime go as smoothly as during peacetime - a push that begins with a new Reserve unit.
• Rumsfeld: DoD Transformation Still on Track AFPS 06 Mar 2003 -- The Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States underscored DoD's need to transform to meet the challenges of the 21st century, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.
• AQ implementing force development AFPN 06 Mar 2003 -- A milestone was reached when the Air Force's first officer development team met recently at the Pentagon.
• DOD plans to 'rebalance' missions AFPN 06 Mar 2003 -- The events of Sept. 11, 2001, did more than change how Americans view the world; the terrorist attacks altered how the U.S. military protects the country.
• MAG 16; more than half a century of excellance Corps' first all helicopter MAG turns 51 USMC News 06 Mar 2003 -- Col. Harold J. Michener accepted the appointment as commanding officer of the first Marine Corps all helicopter Marine Aircraft Group 16 when it was commissioned March 1, 1952. Since then, MAG 16 has participated in most of the conflicts the United States has taken part in, including the Vietnam War, Desert Storm/ Desert Shield, Somalia and Operation Enduring Freedom.
• UNITAS Force Completes Full Speed Work Up Phase Navy NewStand 05 Mar 2003 -- The ships participating in UNITAS 44-03 Caribbean phase just finished an intense work-up phase that started immediately after leaving Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, Feb. 18.
• ALABAMA CIVIL SUPPORT TEAM CERTIFIED 06 Mar 2003 -- The Department of Defense notified Congress today that the Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (WMD-CST) from the Alabama National Guard is now certified. This team is fully ready to assist civil authorities respond to a domestic weapon of mass destruction incident and possesses the requisite skills, training and equipment to be proficient in all mission requirements.

• NATO COMMANDS PATRIOT BATTERIES IN TURKEY NATO AFSOUTH 06 Mar 2003 -- The Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH) Admiral Gregory G Johnson, US Navy, has assumed control of the three Dutch batteries of Patriot ground-based, air defence missile systems, which have deployed to Diyarbakir and Batman, South Eastern Turkey.

• Roh Reaffirms Objection to US Troop Reduction Korea-net 06 Mar 2003 -- The government on Thursday (March 6) reaffirmed its stance against any reduction in the number of U.S. troops stationed here, citing the international standoff triggered by North Korea's nuclear programs.

Defense Industry

• BAE SYSTEMS Refurbishes British Forces Communications Systems BAE Systems 06 Mar 2003 -- BAE Systems C4ISR has completed an urgent requirement from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to refurbish communications containers previously used by British Forces in theatres such as the Balkans and Sierra Leone.
• General Dynamics Awarded $5 Million Contract for Fox Contractor Logistics Support General Dynamics 06 Mar 2003 -- The U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), a $5 million contract for M93 and M93A1 Fox contractor logistics support. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Mich., through January 2004.
• "Light Infantry Vehicle for Special Operations" at the IDEX trade fair in Abu Dhabi Rheinmetall Defence 06 Mar 2003 -- Between 16th and 20th of march 2003, the Rheinmetall DeTec group will be represented at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi (UAE). For the first time ever, Rheinmetall Landsysteme will present its new Light Infantry Vehicle for Special Operations LIV (SO).

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 06 Mar 2003
• PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT United Nations 06 Mar 2003
• Annan deeply deplores 'disproportionate and excessive' Israeli force in Gaza UN News Centre 06 Mar 2003 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today deeply deplored the use of "disproportionate and excessive force" by the Israeli military in a Gaza refugee camp, which reportedly led to the killing of 11 Palestinians and the injuring of more than 140.
• ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Israeli troops surrounded a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip late Thursday - the same area where 11 Palestinians had been killed earlier in the day. The latest raid follows rocket attacks from Gaza at communities inside Israel.
• U.S. Understands Dangers of Inaction on Palestine-Israeli Conflict Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns told Arab journalists March 6 that the United States will engage -- along with Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, the other members of the so-called "Quartet" -- in a vigorous effort to revive political negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.
• ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- At least 11 Palestinians are reported dead and some 100 wounded in an Israeli incursion into the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The raid came just hours after a suicide bombing in Haifa Wednesday that killed 15 passengers on a city bus and wounded scores more.

• U-S / IVORY COAST VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- The United States joined African diplomats and others Thursday in urging the parties to the conflict in Ivory Coast to cooperate with efforts by the country's Prime Minister Seydou Diarra to form a government of national reconciliation. It said fulfilling the terms of the Marcoussis peace accords for Ivory Coast is an "urgent" task.
• IVORY COAST/TALKS VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Warring parties from Ivory Coast are meeting in Ghana to try to save their shaky peace deal. The talks are aimed at reaching a compromise on a government of national unity.

• UGANDA: Museveni dismisses LRA ceasefire announcement IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has dismissed the ceasefire announced on Saturday by the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, Joseph Kony.
• UGANDA: Three soldiers executed after unfair trial, says AI IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- The rights group, Amnesty International (AI), has condemned the execution on Monday of three members of the Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF) who were convicted by a military court of murdering civilians.
• ANGOLA: Interview with senior UNITA leader Isaias Samakuva IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- Isaias Samakuva, UNITA's representative in Paris between September 1998 and October 2002, is seen by many observers as the next leader of the former rebel movement. IRIN spoke to him in the Angolan capital, Luanda, about the challenges facing UNITA as the country moves towards national elections.
• ANGOLA: Samakuva criticises treatment of UNITA ex-soldiers IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- A senior UNITA member, Isiais Samakuva, told IRIN on Thursday that the main challenges for the former rebel movement were to choose a new leader, and the demobilisation and reintegration of its ex-combatants.
• Five UN peacekeepers in Timor-Leste die in drowning accident UN News Centre 06 Mar 2003 -- A drowning accident today claimed the lives of five United Nations peacekeepers from the Republic of Korea serving in Timor-Leste.
• U-N/SIERRA LEONE VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- The United Nations Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, today (Thursday) reported that, in the year since the resolution of Sierra Leone's civil war, the African nation has experienced a remarkable transformation.
• Text: Senator McConnell Condemns Burma's Use of Child Soldiers Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican of Kentucky), the second most powerful Republican in the Senate, condemned Burma's military junta for using child soldiers to commit atrocities against ethnic minorities.
• BURUNDI: President bans private radio stations from carrying rebel statements IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- Editors of Burundi's private radio stations have been ordered to stop broadcasting comments and statements by two rebel factions fighting the country's transitional government, according to media reports.
• SOMALIA: Talks "in danger of collapse" IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- The Somali peace talks currently underway in Kenya are in danger of collapsing unless strong leadership is provided by the mediators, the Somalis and the international community, the Brussels-based think tank, International Crisis Group (ICG), warned this week.
• DRC: Fear of massacres as Lendus, UPDF storm Bunia, force out UPC IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- Humanitarian organisations warned of possible massacres of ethnic Hema civilians during the night after the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and ethnic Ngiti and Lendu militias on Thursday stormed Bunia in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), forcing the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC) rebel movement that had controlled the city to flee.
• LIBERIA: LURD rebels commit terrible abuses - Human Rights Watch IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- Liberian rebels physically, sexually and psychologically abused five nurses whom they held for three months in 2002, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Thursday. The nurses, staff members of the non-governmental organization Merci, were given a "choice" between joining the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) as fighters or becoming "wives" of rebel soldiers, HRW said.
• CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Commission set up to rehabilitate returning civil servants IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- Central African Republic (CAR) President Ange-Felix Patasse issued a decree on Tuesday establishing a commission to rehabilitate former civil servants returning from exile, and to propose their reintegration, according to government-owned Radio Centrafrique.
• CHAD: Food aid sent to the south IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- The World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday sent a convoy of trucks transporting 120 tonnes of maize flour and six tonnes of oil to Gore on Chad's border with the Central African Republic (CAR) in response to an appeal by the Chadian government for help for thousands of people who have fled fighting in the CAR.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 06 Mar 2003
• SHAPE News Summary Analysis SHAPE 06 Mar 2003
• PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNITED KINGDOM SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS United Nations 06 Mar 2003
• Vershbow on Opportunities, Challenges in U.S.-Russian Relations Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- "U.S.-Russian relations are increasingly guided by common interests, and the scope of our cooperation is expanding in ways that would have been inconceivable ten years ago," U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation Alexander Vershbow said February 27.
• Text: Powell Says 2004 State Budget Vital to U.S. Foreign Policy Programs Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Senate committee March 6 that the proposed fiscal year 2004 State Department budget of $28.5 billion will allow the United States to target security and economic assistance to sustain key nations supporting the United States in the war on terrorism and help stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
• Belarus Refuses U.S. Request to Monitor Local Elections Washington File 06 Mar 2003 -- The United States has asked Belarus' Central Election Commission to explain why it denied a request for accreditation of U.S. Embassy diplomatic staff in Minsk to serve as observers for the March 2 local elections.
• ARMENIA / ELECTION VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Election officials in Armenia say President Robert Kocharian has won a second five-year term in Wednesday's run-off election. But the opposition says it will protest the results.
• INDIA / AFGHANISTAN VOA 06 Mar 2003 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai has met top Indian leaders, signed a bilateral trade agreement and won a promise of financial assistance from New Delhi to rebuild his war-torn country. The Afghan leader is in the Indian capital on an official visit.
• GUINEA-BISSAU: International help needed, UN official urges IRIN 06 Mar 2003 -- Guinea-Bissau would need sustained assistance from the international community to overcome immediate and longer-term hurdles, a senior UN official told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.