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Military


15 August 2003 Military News

Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

  • 94th Engineer Battalion clears path for security at CPA Army News Service 15 Aug 2003-- Soldiers from the Vilseck, Germany-based, 94th Engineer Battalion are kicking up 20-foot clouds of dust to make the Coalition Provisional Authority's headquarters more secure.
  • Civil affairs soldiers provide home for displaced Iraqis Army News Service 15 Aug 2003-- In a dusty corner of east Baghdad, there is a community of families living in an old Iraqi military complex. The buildings in the compound are less like family housing and more like warehouses and offices. Since coalition forces entered the city, soldiers have found that there are thousands of squatters living in abandoned government buildings.

  • U.S. Backs Karzai's Efforts to Strengthen Afghan Central Government Washington File 15 Aug 2003 -- The United States has endorsed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reforms aimed at asserting the authority of the central government in Kabul throughout the country and improving provincial governance.
  • AFGHANISTAN: UN says urgent funds needed for elections IRIN 15 Aug 2003 -- The United Nations announced on Thursday that the voters registration programme for the Afghan general elections scheduled to be held by June next year urgently needed US $76 million from donors.

  • LIBERIA / HUMANITARIAN VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- The departure of rebels from the port area of Monrovia has allowed tens of thousands of Liberians to seek food and lost relatives.
  • LIBERIA / FIRST DAY VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- West African peacekeepers in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, opened the city's main bridge on Friday, reconnecting areas that had been divided during a two-month rebel siege. Hhungry residents rushed across the bridge to the city's port to buy badly needed food supplies.
  • LIBERIA: UN envoy calls for 5,000 peacekeepers for Monrovia IRIN 15 Aug 2003 -- Jacques Klein, the UN special envoy to Liberia, said on Friday more than 5,000 peacekeeping troops would be needed to guarantee security in the capital Monrovia and it could be several weeks before conditions were settled enough to send relief workers into the interior.

Defense Policy / Programs

  • New Attack Submarine Virginia to be Christened Navy Newsstand 15 Aug 2003-- The lead boat of the Navy's next-generation attack submarine, Virginia (SSN 774), will be christened during a ceremony Aug. 16 at Electric Boat Corporation's shipyard in Groton, Conn.
  • CSSG-3 trains for the worst possible attack Marine Corps News 15 Aug 2003-- In 1998, terrorists used cesium 137 to produce a bomb to destroy the U.S. embassy in Kenya. The combination of high explosives used was known as a "dirty bomb."
  • Pegasus gives SEALS a lift Marine Corps News 15 Aug 2003-- The Navy SEALS, (Sea, Air, Land) take their name from the elements in which they operate.
  • Tent city provides comfort from ravages of simulated war at Osan PACAF Release 15 Aug 2003-- It's an oasis for the real war fighter of a simulated war. It's where they rest, recuperate and phone home.
  • Transcript: Briefing on the Virginia Class Submarine Contract Award 15 Aug 2003 -- Briefing on the Virginia class submarine contract award. Participating were John J. Young, Jr., assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition; and Navy Rear Adm. John D. Butler, program executive officer (submarines).
  • China Modernizes Its Air, Sea and Land Military Capabilities AFPS 15 Aug 2003 -- When the People's Republic of China announced a 17.5 percent or $3 billion increase in spending for defense modernization in March of 2002, it brought the publicly reported total to $20 billion according to a Pentagon report.
  • Officials: No Intention of Lowering Pay for Troops in Iraq, Afghanistan AFPS 15 Aug 2003 -- Pentagon officials have no intention of lowering total compensation for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department's top personnel officer said Aug. 14.
  • Department of Defense Releases Selected Acquisition Reports 15 Aug 2003 -- The Department of Defense has released details on major defense acquisition program cost and schedule changes since the December 2002 reporting period. This information is based on the Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) submitted to the Congress for the June 30, 2003, reporting period.
  • Missile Defense Radar Site Chosen 15 Aug 2003 -- The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced today that it has selected Adak, Alaska, as the Primary Support Base (PSB) for the Sea-Based X-Band (SBX) radar. The PSB includes a mooring site and minimum logistics support for the SBX. The SBX is a part of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, a missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy long-range ballistic missiles aimed at the U.S. homeland.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

  • UN/WAR CRIMES VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Ten years after it was first created, the Yugoslav war crimes Tribunal in The Hague is now a fully functioning court. Ninety-one accused war criminals have been brought before it, 38 of them already tried. Like most national jurisdictions in the world, the Tribunal has now also seen its share of guilty pleas -- and their numbers are rising.

  • ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS UPDATE VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Israel is planning to hand over control for security in two West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority early next week. The move is aimed at helping to advance the international "roadmap" to peace in the Middle East.
  • ISRAEL PALESTINIANS VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Israel is releasing 68 Palestinian prisoners whose planned release was delayed following two Palestinian suicide bombings on Tuesday.

  • EDITORIAL: SUPPORT FOR HEZBOLLAH MUST END VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- On August 9th, sixteen-year-old Haviv Dadon was killed near his home in Shlomi, Israel, by an artillery shell fired by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. At least four other civilians, including a woman and her nine-month-old son were injured. Hours later, Israeli jets struck at Hezbollah terrorist positions in southern Lebanon.
  • Chechnya: Five Russian Soldiers Killed RFE/RL 15 Aug 2003 -- Russia's Interior Ministry says five Russian soldiers were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a remote-controlled mine in the Vedeno district in southern Chechnya.
  • UGANDA: WFP tries to recover food after rebel ambush IRIN 15 Aug 2003 -- The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is taking evasive action to clear 100 mt of its food aid from eastern Uganda’s war-torn Katakwi district, after an ambush on Thursday by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on three trucks carrying WFP food.
  • DRC: Donors begin to respond to WFP appeal for the east IRIN 15 Aug 2003 -- The EC and United States have given the UN World Food Programme (WFP) a total of US $15 million in response to an appeal for aid for an estimated 500,000 people facing severe hunger in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a WFP official told IRIN on Friday.

News Reports

  • NY/ THIRD POWER UPDATE VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Utility officials say all of New York's power was restored late Friday. The governments of the United States and Canada have formed a joint task force to investigate the cause of the power blackout that affected on millions of people in both countries since Thursday afternoon.
  • NY/ POWER SECOND UPDATE VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- New York struggled to return to normalcy on a second hot and humid day as power slowly returned. City officials say power has been restored to eighty-five percent of the city.
  • POWER BLACKOUT VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Millions of people are coming out of the dark, as electricity returns to much of the Northeastern U.S. and portions of Canada. But questions are still left unanswered about the exact cause of what is being called the largest blackout in North America's history.
  • NY/ POWER UPDATE VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- New York struggled to return to normalcy on a second hot and humid day as power slowly returned. City officials say power has been restored to eighty-percent of the city.
  • Power Blackout Not Caused by Terrorism, Bush Says Washington File 15 Aug 2003 -- President Bush ruled out terrorism as a possible cause for the blackout that swept across the northeastern and upper midwestern sections of the United States August 14.
  • N-Y BLACKOUT UPDATE VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- The New York Stock Exchange opened Friday, thanks to a back up power system. But little else ran on schedule after a massive power outage shut down New York City along with seven other states and parts of Canada. New York is slowly recovering power.
  • N-Y / BLACKOUT REACT VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- The massive blackout that began late Thursday afternoon interrupted electrical power to millions of people in the United States.
  • N-Y CITY BLACKOUT REACT VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- New Yorkers are a hearty, diverse lot and on the day after its worst blackout in history, there was a wide range of opinions and emotions about what it means and what to do.
  • U-S BLACKOUT VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Electrical power began to flow again to parts of the northeast and midwest Friday, as Americans struggled to return to normalcy after a harrowing blackout which struck on Thursday. The outage plunged cities into darkness and stranded thousands of commuters and tourists.
  • BUSH/BLACKOUT VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- President Bush says Thursday's blackouts have illustrated the need to modernize America's electrical grid. Mr. Bush says he is pleased with the way authorities are handling the situation.
  • U-S/BLACKOUT VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- A history-making blackout was slowly being reversed in the eastern United States and Canada Friday, amid growing questions as to what caused the electrical distribution grid failure that cut off power to an estimated 50 million people.
  • MIDWEST/BLACKOUT VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- A massive power blackout that struck eight U-S states and parts of Canada Thursday will likely drag on for a few more days in some areas. Power crews are slowly restoring electricity to the affected areas.
  • NEW YORK / BLACKOUT VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Electricity is slowly being restored to New York City after being blacked out since Thursday afternoon.

  • KENYA / RECONCILIATION VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- An international conference that opened in Nairobi Friday called on Kenya's new government to set up a truth and reconciliation process.
  • W-F-P / UGANDA VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- The United Nations World Food Program says three of its trucks carrying food aid were attacked in the region of Karamoja in eastern Uganda Thursday by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. The three drivers and two of their children were apparently abducted.
  • EDITORIAL: DEMOCRACY DEFERRED IN BURMA VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- This month marks the fifteenth anniversary of a milestone in the Burmese people's struggle for democracy. In August 1988, millions of Burmese citizens took to the streets to protest decades of corrupt military rule. Hundreds of peaceful demonstrators were shot by Burmese troops. Many others were brutally beaten and jailed. Burma's generals used the unrest as a pretext for imposing a police state that remains in power to this day.
  • PARAGUAY / INAUGURATION VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Paraguay's newly inaugurated president says he will dedicate himself to fighting corruption and poverty in the South American nation.
  • JAPAN/WAR SHRINE VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- In a move certain to upset Japan's Asian neighbors, some members of the Japanese cabinet visited a controversial religious shrine today (Friday), the 58th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two.
  • BURMA/TREASON VOA 15 Aug 2003 -- Several relatives of former Burma strongman Ne Win face the death penalty, after their appeal of a conviction for high treason was rejected by the country's Supreme Court. A final decision on the four men's fate now rests with the leader of the military government, General Than Shwe.
  • SWAZILAND: King unmoved after three days of protest IRIN 15 Aug 2003 -- King Mswati III asserted on Friday that the rule of law was observed in Swaziland, despite a police decision to defy a court order permitting protesting workers to deliver a petition to delegates at a Commonwealth heads of state summit.
  • COMOROS: Inching towards resolution IRIN 15 Aug 2003 -- A senior Comoran diplomat on Friday said talks aimed at settling the ongoing constitutional crisis in the archipelago were promising, and it was hoped that a resolution to the political impasse would be found by Monday.
  • CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap IRIN 15 Aug 2003 -- The US State Department said on Monday that Turkmenistan had been granted a waiver under the Jackson-Vanik Amendment after President George W. Bush waived trade curbs pending under a US law. State Department Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker said the waiver would encourage the Turkmen government to move forward expeditiously to remove the exit regime and its selective application. The Amendment effectively bars access to official credit and credit guarantee programmes to countries that restrict emigration.



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