Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Wolfowitz Unhurt, Says Hotel Terrorist Attack Won't Deter Mission AFPS 26 Oct 2003 -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who was on the 12th floor of the Al Rasheed Hotel in downtown Baghdad when it was hit today by rocket-propelled grenades in a terrorist attack, insisted that "this terrorist act will not deter us from completing our mission - which is to help the Iraqi people free themselves from the type of criminals who did this and to protect the American people from this kind of terrorism."
• Wolfowitz Vows Al Rasheed Attack Won't Deter Coalition AFPS 26 Oct 2003 -- The terrorist attack on the Al Rasheed Hotel here this morning probably was timed to coincide with the reopening of the 14th of July Bridge in downtown Baghdad, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told reporters today.
• Iraq: Wolfowitz Escapes Rocket Attack In Baghdad RFE/RL 26 Oct 2003 -- United States military officials say a number of people have been injured in a rocket attack this morning on the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Iraq's capital Baghdad.
• IRAQ/AL RASHEED VOA 26 Oct 2003 -- The rocket attack (early Sunday) against the heavily guarded al-Rasheed hotel in Baghdad that killed one U-S soldier and wounded 15 other people was likely months in the planning, according the U-S commander in charge of Baghdad.
• IRAQ / AL RASHEED VOA 26 Oct 2003 -- Rockets struck the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad early Sunday causing an unknown number of casualties. U-S Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who has been visiting the Iraqi capital, described the attack as a desperate act.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Essex Amphibious Ready Group arrives in Australia 7th Fleet 26 Oct 2003-- The Essex Amphibious Ready Group with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) arrived here for a regularly scheduled port visit Oct. 25.
• Rumsfeld Says Range of Strategies Needed to Stop Terrorism Washington File 26 Oct 2003 -- The following op-ed article by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appeared in the Washington Post October 25 and is in the public domain.
• Russia may join NATO in future - Lord Robertson IRNA 26 Oct 2003 -- Russia may join the North Atlantic Alliance in the future, NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag. He said he did not know what the Alliance would be like ten years from now.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS VOA 26 Oct 2003 -- Israeli troops have shot dead a Palestinian militant attempting to infiltrate a Jewish settlement and destroyed Palestinian buildings that the Israelis say were being used to observe troop movements in the Gaza Strip. The demolitions forced the temporary evacuation of about two-thousand Palestinian residents.
• MIDEAST/PEACE TALKS VOA 26 Oct 2003 -- Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia is preparing to hold his first meeting with the militant Islamic group Hamas. Meanwhile, Israel has decided to renew some contacts with the Palestinian leadership.

• LIBERIA / APPOINTMENTS FREEZE VOA 26 Oct 2003 -- Two-months ago the Liberian government and two rebel groups signed a comprehensive peace agreement creating a national transitional government. Now there are problems as to which group has the right to appoint officials to certain positions. The Economic Community of West African States, which helped mediate the agreement, is calling for a freeze on the appointments of assistant and deputy government ministers.
• BALI POLITICAL UNREST VOA 26 Oct 2003 -- Political violence has flared on Indonesia's Bali Island, leaving two dead. The deaths occurred in a clash between supporters of Indonesia's two largest parties.

News Reports

• MALI / CHIRAC VOA 26 Oct 2003 -- French president Jacques Chirac has left Mali, wrapping up a four-day tour of the region with promises of debt relief.