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Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• VEHICLE FALLS IN CANAL, ONE SOLDIER DROWNS, TWO INJURED CENTCOM 31 Aug 2003 -- One Task Force Ironhorse, 4th Infantry Division soldier drowned and two were wounded when the military vehicle they were riding in, while on routine patrol, fell into a canal in the Tikrit area at approximately 6:15 p.m. EST on Aug. 29.
• COALITION OFFERS HELP WITH WATER, JOBS AND PUBLIC SAFETY CENTCOM 31 Aug 2003 -- Life gets a little better in Iraqi towns due to Coalition assistance. Coalition forces are helping Iraqis by installing a generator at a water lift station, by providing jobs for Iraqis who have technical and mechanical skills and by providing a local law enforcement agency with hand-held radios.
• Afghanistan: UN envoy hails national army's progress UN News Centre 31 Aug 2003 -- The senior United Nations envoy to Afghanistan this weekend hailed progress achieved by the country's national army and called on all people to work for reconstruction in the war-ravaged land.
• UPDATE: TWO U.S. SOLDIERS DIE FOLLOWING ACTION NEAR SHKIN, AFGHANISTAN CENTCOM 31 Aug 2003 -- In a follow-up to today's press release reference three wounded coalition soldiers, two of the soldiers died of wounds received during the initial contact with enemy fighters northwest of Shkin, in Paktika province this morning.
• THREE U.S. SOLDIERS WOUNDED NEAR SHKIN, AFGHANISTAN CENTCOM 31 Aug 2003 -- Three coalition soldiers were wounded when their element came in contact with enemy fighters at 1 a.m. EST today approximately 5 miles northeast of Shkin in Paktika province.
• AFGHANISTAN/FIGHTING VOA 31 Aug 2003 -- U-S warplanes and helicopters have carried out more bombing of suspected Taleban hideouts in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, where dozens of rebels have reportedly been killed in a week of fighting. There also has been fighting in eastern Afghanistan.
• UNICEF/LIBERIA/MEASLES VOA 31 Aug 2003 -- The U-N Children's Fund and its partners are conducting an emergency mass immunization measles campaign in the Liberian counties of Gbarpolu and Lofa, which are under rebel control. This is the first time in three years that children in these areas will have been vaccinated against this killer disease.

Defense Policy / Programs

• U-N/NUCLEAR BAN VOA 31 Aug 2003 -- Pressure is mounting on the United States and China to ratify a nuclear test ban treaty that would ban all nuclear explosions.
• Fire support exercise brings 22d MEU heavy hitters together Marine Corps News 31 Aug 2003-- Time and again throughout military history, fire support has provided the decisive edge in battle. For example, in 1453, heavy Turkish cannon battered the high, stout walls of Constantinople into useless piles of rubble. World War II saw fast armadas of American warships mercilessly batter Japanese-held islands in the drive toward Japan, and during Operation DESERT STORM in 1991, an unrelenting 38-day air campaign by coalition aircraft turned the once-vaunted Iraqi army into a broken, starving mess.
• Russia: Nine Die As Nuclear Submarine Sinks RFE/RL 31 Aug 2003 -- Russia's defense minister and the commander of the navy's Northern Fleet declared today a day of mourning for the nine crew members who died when a nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea while being towed yesterday.
• RUSSIA/SUBMARINE VOA 31 Aug 2003 -- Russia's defense minister says human error was to blame for the sinking of one of his nation's nuclear submarines on Saturday. He and other officials say a failure to follow instructions was a large part of what happened.
• Pakistan troops leave for Turkey to participate in joint exercise IRNA 31 Aug 2003 -- A batch of Special Service Group of Pakistan Army was despatched to Turkey Sunday to participate in Pakistan-Turkey Special Forces Platoon Level Joint Exercise commencing Monday.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• China, Philippines Discuss Joint Oil Exploration VOA News 31 Aug 2003, China and the Philippines have discussed possible joint exploration for petroleum in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
• U-N/D-R-C VOA 31 Aug 2003 -- U-N troops in Bunia, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, have completed the final stage of the takeover from a French-led intervention force that was sent to the town in June to protect civilians from attacks by ethnic-Hema and Lendu militia.
• PALESTINIANS/POWER STRUGGLE VOA 31 Aug 2003 -- The Palestinian parliament has decided to postpone a vote of confidence in the government of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas that had been scheduled for Monday. The move came amid concerns that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was planning to oust Mr. Abbas and appoint a successor.

News Reports

• U.S. Concerned for Safety of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi Washington File 31 Aug 2003 -- The United States has learned that Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is on a hunger strike to protest her illegal detention by that country's military regime, State Department Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement released August 31.
• Russia: Blazing Tanker Leaking Oil Into Volga RFE/RL 31 Aug 2003 -- Firefighters are working today to contain a kilometer-long oil slick spilled into Russia's Volga River by a blazing tanker. The fire on the tanker started yesterday.