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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Naval Hospital Great Lakes Sailors Deploy to 'Iraqi Freedom' Navy NewStand 04 Apr 2003 -- In spite of its location, roughly 1,000 miles from salt water, Naval Hospital Great Lakes (NHGL) is supporting the fleet with well-trained medical professionals who have deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Great Lakes 'Sea Warriors' Head to Operation Iraqi Freedom Ships Navy NewStand 04 Apr 2003 -- As the U.S. military geared up for Operation Iraqi Freedom, newscasts and periodicals abounded with images of Army divisions, Marine expeditionary forces and Navy ships leaving their home ports and bases for the Middle East.
• At Sea, USS Winston S. Churchill Maintains Constant Weapons Training Navy NewStand 04 Apr 2003 -- When the order comes, the port side guns erupt into a staccato volley, forcing brief geysers of sea spray into the air.
• Team's efforts help warplanes go farther AFPN 04 Apr 2003 -- What do a maintenance scheduler, an information management specialist and an F-16 Fighting Falcon crew chief have in common?
• From Basra to Baghdad, Flying Tigers get the job done AMCNS 04 Apr 2003 -- Members of Pope's Flying Tigers - the only active duty A-10 unit in Southwest Asia - are bringing the fight to the enemy as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Key issues still dominate wartime leadership picture USAFE 04 Apr 2003 -- Force protection, safety and operational security still dominate the sight picture of the group commander here as he continues to send B-52 bombers over Iraq and generate sorties.
• ANG, Charleston security forces join TALCE deployment AMCNS 04 Apr 2003 -- A 171st Security Forces Squadron 13-man security force team from the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, got "the call" early March 18 and flew to Charleston AFB that evening.
• Deployed Scott civil engineers build cities in the desert AMCNS 04 Apr 2003 -- The 375th Civil Engineer Squadron here is as mighty as the red bull that sits atop their building marker. With eyes full of fierce resolve, its men and women transform barren lands into operational camps complete with work facilities and living quarters.
• 1st CCS helps paratroopers jump into Iraq USAFE 04 Apr 2003 -- In one of the largest airborne operations since World War II, 1,000 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade dropped out of 15 C-17 Globemaster aircraft over Iraq March 26.
• Reserve, active duty blend seamlessly USAFE 04 Apr 2003 -- Active duty and Reserve airmen are working side by side and facing the same challenges of wartime at this forward operating location.
• Forces join together to fuel the coalition USAFE 04 Apr 2003 -- Coalition forces here have joined together to fight the global war on terrorism. From the initial air refueling contact to dropping bombs on target, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and the Royal Air Force from the United Kingdom are conducting hundreds of missions every week in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from the 401st Air Expeditionary Wing.

• AFGHANISTAN: Human rights offices open in Mazar-e Sharif and Bamian IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- Following the opening of its first sub-office in the western city of Herat, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) opened two more sub-offices this week, in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif and the central province of Bamian, both of which have experienced serious human rights violations such as mass killings, torture and intimidation of civilians over the last decade.

Defense Policy / Programs

• White House Press Briefing White House 04 Apr 2003
• PRISim Trains Enterprise Sailors in Force Protection Navy NewStand 04 Apr 2003 -- The Sailor was shot twice in the chest and once in the leg before he moved to the cover of safety.
• NIGERIA / U-S VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- Nigeria has taken delivery of the first two of seven military vessels donated by the United States.
• 8 Stryker variants move on C-130s to NTC Army News 04 Apr 2003 -- Eight variants of the Army's Stryker interim armored vehicle were transported this week aboard C-130 Hercules aircraft from the Southern California Logistics Airport near Victorville, Calif., to Bicycle Lake Army Airfield, a dirt landing strip at the National Training Center.
• Pacific Command Limits Asia Trips Due to SARS Outbreak AFPS 04 Apr 2003 -- Defense Department personnel may make only mission-essential trips to China and Hong Kong because of the threat of severe acute respiratory syndrome, U.S. Pacific Command officials said today.
• Pentagon Revises Smallpox Vaccination Policy AFPS 04 Apr 2003 -- DoD is taking a watchful approach to its smallpox vaccination program after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported investigating whether a sequence of cardiac deaths was associated with the vaccine.
• JAG discusses rules of combat AFPN 04 Apr 2003 -- When Americans go to war, they are armed with more than the best weapons and training the nation has to offer -- they are equipped with the "rule of law."
• Guard, Reserve airmen testify about effects of mobilization AFPN 04 Apr 2003 -- Members of Congress turned to a panel of noncommissioned officers April 3 to determine the price military reservists are paying to help defend the nation.
• Acquisition official briefs aircraft budget to Congress AFPN 04 Apr 2003 -- Over the last year, the Air Force has successfully implemented changes to its acquisition process and provided increased capabilities to warfighters, the service's top acquisition official said in written statements to lawmakers April 3.
• Air Force discusses information technology with Congress AFPN 04 Apr 2003 -- Department of Defense leaders met with the House Armed Services Committee subcommittee on terrorism, unconventional threats and capabilities April 3 to discuss the role of information technology on mission capability.
• Agreement establishes Fighter Associate Program AFPN 04 Apr 2003 -- Air Force Reserve Command and Air Combat Command have joined forces to begin the Fighter Associate Program.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 04 Apr 2003
• GLOBAL: Protection demands focus on especially vulnerable groups IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- This article is one of a series of reports and interviews that comprise a new Web Special on Civilian Protection in Armed Conflict. In it, IRIN explores International Humanitarian Law and principled humanitarian action, the provisions for civilian protection, the problems encountered in achieving this, and the prospects for the future.li>

• Snyder Sees Signs of Peace in Democratic Republic of Congo Conflict Washington File 04 Apr 2003 -- Testifying on U.S. policies in Africa's "troubled" Great Lakes region, Charles Snyder, deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said that the conflict involving the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) "has shown signs of movement toward peace" recently, and that the United States' primary foreign policy objective in that country "remains a peaceful resolution of the nearly five-year civil war."
• DRC: NGO calls for humanitarian access to South Kivu IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- The NGO Action Against Hunger (AAH) said on Thursday that many civilians have been cut off from vital assistance after the NGO's withdrawal from Shabunda in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last month.
• DRC: Ituri Pacification Commission inaugurated IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- After some four years of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the long-awaited Ituri Pacification Commission was inaugurated on Friday in Bunia, the principal town in Ituri district, northeastern DRC.
• South Africa: Pretoria remains engaged in DRC peace process IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- South African President Thabo Mbeki said his government's commitment to peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) went beyond the signing of an all-party peace agreement in Sun City this week.
• Burundi Is At Heart Of Great Lakes Conflict, Says Former Congressman Washington File 04 Apr 2003 -- Burundi has suffered over 40 years of tragedy, losing an estimated 400,000 people to ethnic violence and seeing another 800,000 flee the country. For a small country with a population of only six million, this has proved devastating, according to former Congressman Howard Wolpe.
• BURUNDI: 440 civilians reported killed in recent fighting in eastern Burundi IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- An independent radio station in Burundi, African Public Radio, reported on Thursday that around 440 civilians have been killed in fighting in the eastern province of Ruyigi since January.
• PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SOMALIA United Nations 04 Apr 2003
• INDIA / TRIBAL MASSACRE VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- Police in India say 23 people have been killed in the remote northeast in an incident related to tribal conflict.
• Timor-Leste: Security Council adjusts police force, slows pull-out of UN troops UN News Centre 04 Apr 2003 -- Despite the welcome progress Timor-Leste has achieved since its independence last year, persistent security and stability concerns prompted the Security Council today to adjust the composition and strength of the police component of the United Nations mission in the country and to slow the downsizing of the UN peacekeeping force.
• LIBERIA/ IVORY COAST REFUGEES VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- The U-N refugee agency reports its operations inside Liberia are being severely hampered by an upsurge in fighting along the country's eastern border.
• PAPUA / ATTACK VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- Two Indonesian soldiers are dead in Papua province after suspected members of a separatist group raided stored military weapons. Papua is Indonesia's eastern-most province and the site of more than 30 years of fighting between separatists and Indonesian troops.
• BUSH BLAIR VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- President Bush will travel to Northern Ireland Monday for a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The men will discuss the war in Iraq and efforts to end the violence in Northern Ireland.
• ETHIOPIA: EU to back AU peace initiatives IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- The EU pledged 12 million Euros (US $12.9 million) on Thursday to back peace initiatives by the newly formed African Union (AU). The money will be used to boost attempts at conflict resolution in Africa.
• ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Peace process on course despite renewed difficulties, says UN IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- The UN expressed "concern" on Friday over the fragile state of the peace process between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Its warning came as the independent boundary commission upheld a ruling that the symbolic village of Badme was in Eritrea – a decision opposed by Ethiopia.
• CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC-CHAD: UN agency assists CAR refugees IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Chad said on Wednesday that it was sending the first convoy of relief supplies from the Chadian capital, Ndjamena, to the south of the country to help thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) who have sought shelter there.
• ANGOLA: Interview with UNDP Resident Representative Erick de Mul IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- In an interview with IRIN on the anniversary of Angola's peace agreement, UN Humanitarian Coordinator and UN Development Programme Resident Representative in Angola, Erick de Mul, elaborated on the some of the achievements over the course of the past year.

News Reports

• World Enters Uncharted Foreign Policy Waters, Official Says Washington File 04 Apr 2003 -- What some now see as America throwing its weight around in foreign affairs is actually an appropriate reaction to the post-Cold War challenge to international security posed by rogue and aggressor states like Iraq, says Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman.
• White House Sets Up Legal Framework for SARS Quarantine Washington File 04 Apr 2003 -- U.S. government concern over the newly emerging respiratory illness severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was indicated April 4 when President Bush added the disease to a list of conditions that could warrant government declaration of a quarantine.
• Scholar Proposes Four Steps to Improve U.S. Ties to Islamic World Washington File 04 Apr 2003 -- A prominent scholar of Islam has suggested a four-pillar strategy for improving relations between the United States and the Islamic world.
• Malaria Still The Biggest Killer in Africa, Researchers Told Washington File 04 Apr 2003 -- Every thirty seconds, malaria claims another victim in Africa. And this year, 750,000 of those victims will be children under the age of five, according to Dr. Brian Greenwood, director of the Malaria Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a leader in malaria research for three decades.
• NEW YORK / SARS VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- At least 24-people in New York State are suspected of contracting mild cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, the mysterious new deadly disease which first surfaced in China. According to the World Health Organization's most recent statistics, more than two-thousand people from 16 countries are suspected of having the disease.
• U-N / TORTURE VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- A United Nations special investigator on torture says while the practice is common in many countries, it is widespread in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan.
• EDITORIAL: REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- In the midst of the war to oust the brutal Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, the U.S. has released its annual report on human rights practices around the world. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the stakes in the war could not be higher
• ASIA PNEUMONIA VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- China is stepping up its cooperation with the World Health Organization, as a team of experts meets in the south to study Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Hong Kong and the adjacent Chinese province, Guangdong, together account for roughly 75 percent of the nearly 23-hundred SARS cases worldwide.
• NIGERIA / OIL VOA 04 Apr 2003 -- The U-S-based oil giant ChevronTexaco says it is resuming operations in Nigeria, following a shutdown that was prompted by ethnic fighting.
• CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- This week in Central Asia, the representative of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, said a series of weekend elections in increasingly isolated Turkmenistan would be unlikely to meet democratic standards, according to AFP. Speaking on Wednesday, Paraschiva Badescu, said voting for a 65-member people's assembly, 5,535 rural council seats and four parliamentary seats in by-elections looked as if they would fall far short of Western democratic standards.
• KENYA: Government's stand on constitution draws criticism IRIN 04 Apr 2003 -- Barely three months into office, President Mwai Kibaki's government has been accused of ignoring the most pressing national issue of putting in place a new constitution.