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Current Operations

• Planning for Replacing Troops in Iraq AFPS 16 Oct 2003 -- Whether or not another multinational division is ready for deployment in February, the 101st Airborne Division will come home on time, said U.S. Central Command officials.
• Senators Say U.S. Troop Morale in Iraq is Good AFPS 16 Oct 2003 -- U.S. senators recently returned from Iraq say life is looking up for its citizens and that American troop morale there is good.
• PENTAGON/IRAQ/MORALE VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- America's top defense officials say they are closely watching for possible morale problems among the more than 100 thousand U-S troops in Iraq.

• Afghanistan: Land-Grab Scandal In Kabul Rocks The Government RFE/RL 16 Sep 2003 -- A United Nations housing expert is calling for the removal of Afghan Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and other senior Afghan officials implicated in a scandal over the seizure of real estate in Kabul. But some of the accused officials say they have not done anything illegal.
• Lawmakers Express Support for Supplemental $800 Million for Afghanistan Washington File 16 Oct 2003 -- U.S. lawmakers expressed support for the Bush administration's $800 million supplemental budget request for Afghanistan, urging a more robust approach to improve security, accelerate reconstruction and advance democracy.
• CONGRESS/AFGHANISTAN VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- U-S officials in charge of reconstruction in Afghanistan say progress is being made there, despite what they acknowledge are worsening security conditions. William Taylor, the U-S coordinator for Afghanistan, and other officials appeared before House and Senate committees.
• UN removes some travel restrictions as ceasefire in northern Afghanistan holds UN News Centre 16 Oct 2003 -- A ceasefire has been maintained in the northern province of Mazar-i-Sharif and areas west where factional fighting recently took place, the troops have been withdrawn and most of a 300-strong police contingent has arrived, the United Nations said in Afghanistan today.
• AFGHANISTAN/U-S ECONOMY VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- U-S Commerce Secretary Don Evans, on a visit to Afghanistan, says the country's economy has made tremendous progress in the past two years. But despite reforms and improved infrastructure, much work remains to be done.
• RFE/RL Afghanistan Report, Vol 2, Number 35 16 Oct 2003 -- KABUL WELCOMES EXPANSION OF ISAF, BUT MANY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED / SCORES KILLED IN FIGHTING IN NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN... / ...DESCRIBED AS WORST IN MONTHS... / ...WHICH END THROUGH CEASE-FIRE AGREEMENT / WARLORD COMBAT PUTS PRT, DISARMAMENT EFFORTS IN QUESTION / MINISTERS DISCUSSES 'BROAD PLAN' WITH NORTHERN WARLORDS / UN SECURITY COUNCIL VOTES TO EXTEND ISAF BEYOND KABUL... / ...A MOVE WELCOMED BY AFGHAN OFFICIALS... / ...AND WHICH COULD INCLUDE TROOPS FROM FIJI BUT NOT FRANCE / AFGHAN LEADER DENIES THAT FORMER TALIBAN FOREIGN MINISTER HAS BEEN RELEASED... / ...WHILE OTHER AFGHAN OFFICIALS INSIST HE IS FREE / TALIBAN VETERANS ESCAPE FROM PRISON... / ...AND NEO-TALIBAN COMMANDER CLAIMS BRIBE WAS INVOLVED / U.S. MILITARY SPOKESMAN GIVES TALIBAN THREE OPTIONS / NEO-TALIBAN KILL EIGHT POLICE OFFICERS, OCCUPY DISTRICT OFFICE / NEO-TALIBAN SUSPECTED IN DEATHS OF FOUR SOLDIERS IN CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN... / ...PROMPTING RESPONSE FROM AFGHAN AND COALITION FORCES / IN CENTRAL PROVINCES, RESIDENTS FEAR HUNGER FIRST, TALIBAN SECOND / KABUL PAPER REMEMBERS DESTRUCTIVE CIVIL WARS / ENFORCEMENT OF LAW ON POLITICAL PARTIES WILL TEST KARZAI / AFGHAN FORCES REPORTEDLY SHELL PAKISTANI BORDER CHECKPOINT / THIS WEEK IN AFGHANISTAN'S HISTORY
• AFGHANISTAN: INSTABILITY REIGNS IN WAR-RAVAGED NATION US Dept. of State IIP, Foreign media Reaction October 16, 2003
• AFGHANISTAN: Kabul warns northern warlords IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- Following a ceasefire signed on 9 October after serious fighting between two feuding warlords in Afghanistan's troubled north, the interior ministry told IRIN that Kabul had told Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum and Gen Ata Mohammad - the two warlords responsible for the violence - that they would be removed from their government posts if they violated the fragile peace agreement.
• AFGHANISTAN: Interview with governor of Paktika province IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- Ongoing insecurity in southern and eastern Afghanistan has meant that much-needed aid and development work has been severely curtailed in the region. Mohammad Ali Jalali is the governor of the isolated and unstable southeastern province of Paktika. The mainly-Pashtun province borders Pakistan, and has seen ongoing attacks by renegade Taliban and their sympathisers on Coalition forces, Afghan police and army, as well as on aid workers. In an interview with IRIN he said that hardly any reconstruction and development work had taken place in his vulnerable province either by the Afghan government or international aid agencies.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Transcript: Secretary Rumsfeld Briefs on Defense Department Operational Update 16 Oct 2003 -- "I returned this weekend from Colorado Springs and California. With us in Colorado Springs were three former Warsaw Pact adversaries, Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic, now NATO allies. Also president -- present were Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, nations that have been invited to join the alliance."
• Multilateral Maritime Interdiction Exercise Begins Navy Newsstand 16 Oct 2003-- The guided missile frigate USS Nicholas (FFG 47) and a P-3 surveillance aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 10 operating out of Sigonella, Sicily, recently joined naval assets from six other nations to begin SANSO 03, a four-day, multilateral maritime interdiction training exercise in the Mediterranean.
• Families reunite after Engineers return from OIF USAREUR News 17 Oct 2003-- Many prayers were answered on Oct. 11 when soldiers from V Corps', 502nd Engineer Company and Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 565 Engineer Battalion, arrived at Pioneer Kaserne after an eight-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and were welcomed home by excited families waving flags and banners.
• FORT BRAGG TO CONDUCT FORCE PROTECTION READINESS EXERCISE Fort Bragg Release 17 Oct 2003-- Beginning Monday, Oct. 20, Fort Bragg will conduct Orbit Comet, the installation's semi-annual force protection exercise to validate its force protection readiness and emergency management systems. The exercise is scheduled to end Friday, Oct. 24.
• Navy Commissions New Guided Missile Destroyer Chafee Navy Newsstand 16 Oct 2003-- The newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, Chafee, will be commissioned Saturday, Oct. 18, 2003, during an 11 a.m. eastern ceremony in Newport, R.I.
• Navy EOD Joins Forces with Army, Helps Clear Ordnance Out of Baghdad Navy Newsstand 16 Oct 2003-- While much of the media's attention remains focused on the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel are diligently working to protect coalition troops and Iraqi citizens from smaller and more deadly tools of individual devastation.
• Bush: America Facing Choice in War Against Terrorism AFPS 16 Oct 2003 -- President Bush today thanked the United Nations Security Council for passing a resolution supporting efforts to rebuild Iraq, and said the United States is facing a choice in the war on terror.
• Comptroller Urges House Committee to Support Supplemental Funding Request AFPS 16 Oct 2003 -- Saying the Defense Department wants to advance stabilization and recovery in Iraq as rapidly and cost effectively as possible, the Pentagon's chief financial officer urged the House Budget Committee today to support President Bush's $87 billion supplemental funding request for military and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• DoD Leaders Keeping Eye on Troop Morale AFPS 16 Oct 2003 -- The Defense Department takes every report of low military morale seriously, and DoD leaders said today they must remain attentive to the needs of service members and their families.
• PENTAGON/RELIGION/GENERAL VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Chairman of the U-S military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, have publicly defended a senior officer who has described the war on terrorism as a religious clash.

• Pakistan to get MI-17 helicopters from Russia - daily IRNA 16 Oct 2003 -- Pakistan is all set to acquire a fresh batch of MI-17 helicopters from Russia mainly for Army Aviation and broadly to fight terrorism on its western borders, a local daily reported Thursday.
• Pakistan Air Force fighter plane crashes near Karachi IRNA 16 Oct 2003 -- A French-made Mirage fighter plane of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed on Thursday near the port city of Karachi, but the pilot ejected safely.

• Securing the Peace: The NATO Vision NATO 16 Oct 2003 -- Secretary General's Speech at the NATO Public Diplomacy Conference Brussels, October 16, 2003
• NATO Response Force Inaugurates Air, Maritime Components Washington File 16 Oct 2003 -- The United States welcomed the inauguration of the first two components of the new NATO Response Force (NRF) October 15 in The Netherlands.

Defense Industry

• CACI Completes Acquisition of C-CUBED Corporation CACI 16 Oct 2003 -- CACI International Inc (NYSE:CAI) announced today that it has closed its transaction to purchase all of the outstanding shares of C-CUBED Corporation. C-CUBED, headquartered in Springfield, Virginia, provides specialized services in support of C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) initiatives to clients in the Department of Defense, federal civilian, and intelligence communities. Terms were not disclosed, but the transaction is anticipated to be accretive to CACI's fiscal year ending June 30, 2004.
• Northrop Grumman Puts Fire Scout UAV on Final Approach for Historic First Shipboard Landings Northrop Grumman 16 Oct 2003 -- In preparation for an historic first shipboard landing by the U.S. Navy's RQ-8A Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned air vehicle, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) conducted two successful test flights of the UAV in late August.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 16 Oct 2003
• Powell Says Palestinian Authority Must Stop Terrorism Now Washington File 16 Oct 2003 -- The terrorists who targeted a convoy of American diplomats in the Gaza strip October 15 murdered three innocent individuals and are "helping to murder the dreams of the Palestinian people," said Secretary of State Colin Powell.
• U.S.: Powell Says No Palestinian State If Terror Continues RFE/RL 16 Oct 2003 -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says there can be no independent Palestinian state without an end to violence and terrorism. Powell made the comment in response to the killing of three Americans in the Gaza Strip yesterday. In a written statement read by his spokesman, Richard Boucher, Powell called the bombing attack on the convoy of diplomatic cars "heinous."
• GAZA/ARRESTS VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Palestinian police have arrested several militants suspected of involvement in Wednesday's bomb attack on an American diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip. The blast killed three American security guards, and has brought renewed pressure on the Palestinian Authority to crack down on militants.

• Congressmen Offer Proposal to End Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Dispute Washington File 16 Oct 2003 -- U.S. lawmakers have taken the first step in a legislative process they hope will encourage Ethiopia and Eritrea to act positively to end a border conflict that caused 120,000 casualties between the two Horn of Africa nations from 1998 to 2000.
• ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Meles vows not to go to war IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi remained defiant on Thursday in the face of mounting international pressure to abide by the ruling on the border with neighbouring Eritrea.
• ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Peace process under "severe stress" - UN IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) warned on Thursday that the peace process was under “severe stress”.
• LIBERIA VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Liberia's new transitional leader, Gyude Bryant, says he is confident all warring factions support his peace mission, but there are reports of continuing skirmishes in the southeast timber region.
• LIBERIA: Chea retains defence ministry in new government IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- Daniel Chea, who served as Defence Minister under disgraced former president Charles Taylor, was confirmed in his post on Thursday by the new broad-based transitional government led by Gyude Bryant.
• LIBERIA: Relief agencies reach out to desperate civilians IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- The UK-based relief agency, Merlin, said on Thursday it had started providing emergency medical services to at least 125,000 people trapped without a single doctor in southeastern Liberia, around the rebel-held towns of Zwedru and Greenville.
• Sudan: Slavery and Civil War VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Sudan's vice president and the country's main rebel leader are in Kenya for what many people hope will be the final round of negotiations aimed at ending Africa's longest-running civil war. The conflict between the mainly Muslim north, and Christian and animist south has plagued the country for much of its history, since independence from Britain in 1956. Both sides have been under intense international pressure to end a conflict that has resulted in the death of nearly two million people, displacement of millions more, and slavery for some of the country's citizens.
• SUDAN / TALKS VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Sudan's vice president and the country's main rebel leader have arrived in Kenya to begin what many people hope will be the final round of negotiations aimed at ending Sudan's 20-year civil war.

• RENEWED VIOLENCE IN ACEH VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Since May, Indonesia's northwest province of Aceh has seen renewed fighting between some 50-thousand government troops and the Free Aceh Movement rebels. The rebels' 27-year long struggle for independence has claimed up to 30 thousand lives and left tens of thousands more without homes. A December cease-fire restored some semblance of normalcy to the province for a few short months. But a series of attacks on peacekeepers led the Indonesian government to declare martial law on May 19.
• NEPAL/ANTI-REBEL VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- In Nepal, security forces have stormed a Maoist guerrilla training camp, killing at least 25 rebels. Intensified fighting in the past week has killed more than a 100 people in the mountain kingdom.
• INDIA/TEMPLE RALLY VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Indian police are increasing security in the northern city of Ayodhya, where controversy surrounding the site of a razed mosque repeatedly has led to violence between Muslims and Hindus. Tens-of-thousands of Hindu activists are expected to march Friday, in defiance of local authorities, who have forbidden any rallies.
• DRC: Three RCD-Goma officers could lose military leadership positions IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- Three military officers appointed to key leadership positions in the unified national military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could be replaced for failing to report for duty in the national capital, Kinshasa, government spokesman Vital Kamerhe told IRIN on Wednesday.
• SOMALIA: Hundreds fleeing Baidoa IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- Hundreds of people are fleeing their homes and businesses in the southwestern town of Baidoa after heavy fighting broke out between rival factions of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) which controls the area, local sources told IRIN on Thursday.
• Great Lakes: Dutch development minister to evaluate peace processes IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- The Dutch minister for development cooperation, Agnes van Ardenne, is to visit the Great Lakes region of Africa from 20 to 22 October to discuss ongoing peace processes, the Foreign Affairs Ministry of The Netherlands announced on Wednesday.
• MALI: 800 Malians return from Cote d'Ivoire IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- Nearly 800 Malians, who had been living in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire returned home on Tuesday aboard 10 government-hired buses, citing harassment in Cote d’Ivoire since a failed coup last year raised tensions between Ivorians and non-Ivorians.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 16 Oct 2003 -- NATO launches elite force to spearhead military modernization / UN investigators raid Bosnian Serb security agency / Iraq war swells al Qaeda's ranks says report / Top NATO official: Ukraine's military reforms on track / U.S. general sees space as future battlefield
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 16 Oct 2003 -- Institute warns NATO must come up with new ways of making decisions / German cabinet approves new Afghan troop deployment

• U.S. House Approves Legislation To Impose Sanctions on Syria Washington File 16 Oct 2003 -- Congressional Report, October 16: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan Issues
• PHILIPPINES / U-S RELATIONS VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- As President Bush travels to Manila for his first official visit, the Philippine government is anticipating its reward for its staunch anti-terrorism support. The two allies share the warmest relations in a decade.
• AZERBAIJAN/VOTE VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- A preliminary vote count gives the son of Azerbaijan's outgoing president a commanding lead in an election the political opposition and some international observers say was undemocratic.
• THAILAND / U-S RELATIONS VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Thai-U-S relations have been given a boost since the government in Bangkok became one of America's staunchest allies in the war on terror - even sending troops to Iraq. With President Bush's visit to Thailand this weekend for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit - Thailand is hoping in principle to get negotiations rolling on a free trade agreement.
• NIGERIA/OIL VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- The government of Nigeria has decided to sell shares in the national oil refineries. The move is intended to end the country's chronic fuel shortages. The government's effort to modernize the oil sector is meeting with opposition from the labor unions.
• O-I-C SUMMIT VOA 16 Oct 2003 -- Leaders from the 57 nations of the Islamic Conference Organization have opened a two-day summit in Malaysia with a somber self-critique. The speakers blamed their weak influence in world affairs on a lack of unity and a slow response to changing times.
• MALAWI: Sabre rattling ahead of election IRIN 16 Oct 2003 -- The stage is set for a hotly contested presidential election next year, and Malawi's senior clerics have signalled their intention to closely monitor the conduct of the presidential and legislative polls in May 2004.