Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• IRAQ / SUICIDE ATTACKS VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- Suicide attacks have risen sharply in Iraq in recent months. The attackers have also widened their focus of targets to include not only U-S forces, but their Iraqi supporters as well.
• Clinic, Schools Open Doors in Iraq Thanks to 101st Airborne AFPS 28 Oct 2003 -- A health clinic and two schools near Mosul, Iraq, opened Oct. 23 after the Commander's Emergency Relief Program of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) brought them back to life.
• Car Bomb in Fallujah Wounds 2 Iraqis AFPS 28 Oct 2003 -- A car bomb exploded outside an engineering office and down the street from a police station in Fallujah, Iraq, wounding two Iraqis, Combined Joint Task Force 7 officials said today.
• IRAQ / FALLUJAH BLAST VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- A bomber struck the town of Fallujah west of Baghdad, killing at least four civilians.
• Iraq: U.S. Troops Accused Of Being Heavy-Handed In Their Search For Terrorists RFE/RL 28 Oct 2003 -- In Iraq, U.S. troops continue to raid the homes and hideouts of suspected loyalists of deposed President Saddam Hussein, searching for weapons and the individuals who are organizing or financing the continuing attacks against coalition soldiers. Despite the 1 May announcement of the end of major combat operations in Iraq, 113 U.S. troops have died in attacks in the past six months.
• 13th MEU Provides Assistance in Southern Iraq Navy Newsstand 28 Oct 2003-- Elements of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Special Operations Capable (SOC) completed humanitarian assistance, anti-smuggling and security and stabilization operations, Oct. 25, in southern Iraq as part of Operation Sweeney. The MEU SOC, a component of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1, delivered food, provided medical and dental capability and produced more than 3,000 gallons of water for citizens in the region.
• Guard Soldiers Fight 'Battle of the Boneyard' in Afghanistan AFPS 28 Oct 2003 -- Army National Guard infantry soldiers held their ground and gave back everything they were getting during a firefight with Afghan militants who ambushed them outside the capital city of Kabul in western Afghanistan shortly after midnight on Oct. 12.
• Rebuilt School Opens Doors for Afghanistan's Future AFPS 28 Oct 2003 -- It is apparent in the eyes of the children here that the youth of Afghanistan need action today to have a brighter tomorrow.
• STRUGGLING AFGHANISTAN - PART 1 VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- With the departure of the Taleban, Afghanistan is transformed. Freedom is on display in all kinds of ways. Yet there is an underlying fear it may not last because of the continuing warfare, factional conflicts and the uncertain behavior of foreign powers.
• Pakistan .sets up 100 check posts along Afghan border - daily IRNA 28 Oct 2003 -- Pakistan Army has set up over one hundred check-posts along the border with Afghanistan to check illegal movements across the border.
• Kabul to free 140 Pak prisoners next week IRNA 28 Oct 2003 -- After clearance by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Afghanistan is all set to release 140 Pakistani prisoners on November 3-4.
• Afghan repatriation from Pakistan passes 1.9 million IRNA 28 Oct 2003 -- The number of Afghan refugees that UN Refugee Agency in Pakistan has helped return home since it began a voluntary repatriation program in March 2002 passed the 1.9 million mark on Tuesday, said a UNHCR press release.
• Pakistan Islamists protest military operation IRNA 28 Oct 2003 -- Islamic opposition groups in the National Assembly on Tuesday protested against military operations in areas bordering Afghanistan and alleged the locals are being victimized under the pretext of al-Qaeda.
• DoD Lends Hand in California Wildfire Fight AFPS 28 Oct 2003 -- More military units are helping combat the wildfires raging in California, Pentagon officials said today.

Defense Policy / Programs

• BUSH ISLAM VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- President Bush is once again reaching out to Muslims, seeking their support for the war on terrorism. He called attention to the qualities of charity, sacrifice and strong personal faith that he says are so much a part of Islam.
• CONGRESS / IRAN / SYRIA VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- U-S policy toward key countries in the Middle East against the backdrop of continuing challenges to the U-S military occupation of Iraq. With terrorist attacks in Iraq continuing, many lawmakers are concerned about the attitudes of Syria and Iran, and are debating how the United States should handle relations with Damascus and Teheran in the continuing war on terror.
• USS Olympia Returns from Western Pacific Deployment Navy Newsstand 28 Oct 2003-- Los Angeles-class attack submarine, USS Olympia (SSN 717), returned to her homeport of Pearl Harbor, Oct. 23, following a routine six-month deployment in the Western Pacific
• World Safer Because of U.S. Actions, Bush Says AFPS 28 Oct 2003 -- The world is safer today because Saddam Hussein and the Taliban are gone, President Bush said during a White House press conference today.
• Secretary meets with People's Republic of China 28 Oct 2003 -- The U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Minister of National Defense of the People's Republic of China met in Washington today.
• Seventh Fleet command ship arrives in Hong Kong 7th Fleet 28 Oct 2003-- Navy's Seventh Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), and the embarked Commander, Seventh Fleet staff arrived here Oct. 28.
• USS Olympia Returns from Western Pacific Deployment Navy Newsstand 28 Oct 2003-- Los Angeles-class attack submarine, USS Olympia (SSN 717), returned to her homeport of Pearl Harbor, Oct. 23, following a routine six-month deployment in the Western Pacific.
• Nimitz Performs Largest Ordnance Offload Since OIF Navy Newsstand 28 Oct 2003-- USS Nimitz (CVN 68) performed the largest ordnance offload with USNS Kilauea (T-AE 26), Oct. 23, 2003, since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The two-day evolution required a great deal of coordination between the two ships and its personnel to get the task accomplished safely.
• MDSU-1 Helps Injured Diver Navy Newsstand 28 Oct 2003-- Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 was involved in an unprecedented medical evacuation of an injured civilian diver from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, Oct. 8. 2003.
• Financial management agreement for Trust Fund project with Georgia signed today NATO 28 Oct 2003 -- Today at NATO's headquarters, the Minister of Defence of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Mr. Charles Goerens, has signed the financial management agreement for the Trust Fund Project with Georgia.
• NATO Signs Agreement to Clean Up Former Military Sites in Georgia Washington File 28 Oct 2003 -- NATO signed a financial management agreement for the Trust Fund Project with Georgia on October 28 that will finance the demilitarization of over 300 ground-air defense missiles located at former military bases in Ponichala and Chaladidi and the clean-up of unexploded ordnance at Vaziani.

Defense Industry

• CACI Awarded $60 Million in Contracts to Provide Marketing and Call Center Support for Military Health System CACI 28 Oct 2003 -- CACI International Inc (NYSE:CAI) announced that it has been awarded two prime contracts by the Department of Defense (DoD) to support TRICARE, the military's healthcare program.
• Lockheed Martin and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Sign Teaming Agreement for U.S. Navy BAMS Program Lockheed Martin 28 Oct 2003 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., (GA-ASI) have teamed to jointly pursue the U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program. BAMS UAV is a $2 billion opportunity to provide the U.S. Navy with a persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT United Nations 28 Oct 2003
• Vajpayee`s offers unconditional peace talks with N-E separatists IRNA 28 Oct 2003 -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tuesday offered unconditional peace talks with any separatist group in India`s northeast to end decades of insurgency in the region.
• Vajpayee`s efforts to end insurgency in Nagaland suffers setback IRNA 28 Oct 2003 -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s efforts at ending 56-years of insurgency in the northeastern state of Nagaland suffered a setback with a powerful separatist group Tuesday pledging its demand for an independent homeland.

• LIBERIA: LURD reopens Po river bridge, gets UN warning IRIN 28 Oct 2003 -- The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD) rebel group said on Tuesday it had lifted a three-day ban on relief vehicles moving out of Monrovia on the main road west to Tubmanburg and the Sierra Leone border.
• LIBERIA: UNHCR sends assessment team to Nimba County IRIN 28 Oct 2003 -- The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday it had sent an assessment mission by helicopter to Sanniquiellie, the rebel-held headquarters of Nimba County in north central Liberia, close to the Ivorian border town of Danane.
• BUSH / MIDEAST UPDATE VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- President Bush is expressing pessimism about progress toward Middle East peace, saying he sees no real change in attitudes among either Palestinian or Israeli leaders toward taking the steps necessary to achieve it. The president took issue with both sides during an extended news conference at the White House Tuesday that focused largely on the Middle East.
• ISRAEL / LEBANON VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- Israel's defense minister says Lebanese-based Hizbollah guerrillas are planning a major attack in northern Israel and a top army general is threatening tough retaliation.
• PALESTINIAN POLITICS VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has asked his prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, to stay on in the job and form a new cabinet by next week. Palestinian political sources say Mr. Qureia has agreed.
• ISRAEL / LEBANON VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- Israel is threatening strong retaliation if cross-border attacks continue from neighboring Lebanon. The warning comes after an attack by Hizbollah militants on Israeli positions in a disputed border area and amid rising tensions between Israel and Lebanon and Syria.

• Powell Says An Opportunity for Peace in Sudan Must Not be Lost Washington File 28 Oct 2003 -- This column by U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, was published in the Los Angeles Times October 28 and is in the public domain.
• U-S / SUDAN VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell has appealed to the parties in the Sudanese conflict to meet their commitment to finish a peace accord by the end of the year. In a Los Angeles Times commentary, Mr. Powell said a final deal in Sudan would send a "powerful message" worldwide that even the most intractable conflicts can be resolved through negotiation.

• Violence escalates on first day of Ramadan in Jammu and Kashmir IRNA 28 Oct 2003 -- At least 25 civilians were injured, some of the critically, when unknown persons lobbed a grenade at a crowded telephone billing counter while two soldiers were killed and eight hurt in a blast in Kashmir on Tuesday.
• BOSNIA / WAR CRIMES VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- A former Bosnian Serb politician says former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic ordered the killing of thousands of Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. He testified in The Hague at the sentencing hearing of another Bosnian Serb army officer who has admitted his role in Europe's worst massacres since World War Two.
• Security Council extends mandate of UN mission in Western Sahara until January UN News Centre 28 Oct 2003 -- The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), due to expire on Friday, until the end of next January.
• DR of Congo: UN panel on plunder of resources publishes final report UN News Centre 28 Oct 2003 -- A United Nations committee investigating the plunder of gems and minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) published its final report today, listing the names of companies that did - and did not - cooperate with its work.
• UNHCR / ANGOLA VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- The U-N Refugee Agency says nearly 200-thousand Angolan refugees have returned home since peace was declared in May 2002. The agency says this means almost half of the people driven into exile during Angola's 27-year long civil war have now gone back.
• IGAD / SOMALIA VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- Meeting in Nairobi, a group of African countries has discussed challenges to bringing peace to Somalia.
• IVORY COAST / JOURNALIST VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- French prosecutors have started a murder inquiry into last week's killing of a French radio reporter in Ivory Coast by a police officer. Many foreign journalists now feel unsafe in the former French colony.
• INDIA/KASHMIR VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- In Indian Kashmir, at least two soldiers have been killed and more than 40 people - mostly civilians - have been injured in two separate attacks by suspected Islamic militants Muslim separatists are vowing to intensify attacks during the holy month of Ramadan.
• UGANDA: US aid for fight against Lord's Resistance Army IRIN 28 Oct 2003 -- The United States embassy in Uganda has confirmed that it is offering military aid to the Ugandan defence ministry to help it fight the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in the north of the country.
• CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: National reconciliation talks close IRIN 28 Oct 2003 -- Regional leaders underlined their hope for peace in the Central African Republic on Monday by attending the closing ceremony of national reconciliation talks, which ended on 16 October, for an expectant 3.5 million people.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 28 Oct 2003 -- U.S. diplomat in Paris amid concerns over European defense ambitions / Britain supports strengthening EU defense, but not at cost of NATO / EU organization opens office to fight corruption in the Balkans / Moscow and Washington neither foes nor allies / EU citizens say U.S. should pay to rebuild Iraq
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 28 Oct 2003 -- NRF seen as "last chance for NATO" / EU confirms Operation Concordia to end on Dec. 15 as planned / France expected to announce nuclear deterrent review
• HUMAN RIGHTS / CONGO VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- This week, the U-N Security Council is scheduled to take up the latest report on alleged exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo by multi-national corporations. A coalition of more than one dozen human rights groups has already called on the international organization to action on the issue.
• LAOS / HUMAN RIGHTS VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- The Bush administration is supporting a bill in Congress that would grant normal trade relations with the communist government of Laos. But a group of Laotian demonstrators rallied outside the State Department Tuesday saying this is not the time to reward, what they call, a brutal regime.
• EU: Russia Warned Not To Jeopardize Relations Over Enlargement RFE/RL 28 Oct 2003 -- The European Commission today said Russia must automatically extend its Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU -- which underpins Moscow's relations with the bloc -- to all new member states after enlargement, or risk harming ties.
• EU: IGC Meeting Shows Little Progress On Constitution RFE/RL 28 Oct 2003 -- Three weeks after its opening ceremony in Rome, the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), bringing together EU member states to discuss the bloc's first-ever constitution, has made little progress. The relative lack of progress bears witness to deep disagreements among member states on key issues. However, most observers have long noted that intergovernmental talks in the EU seem fated to end in drawn-out final summits where eventual deals are thrashed out at the highest level.
• JAPAN CAMPAIGNING VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- Campaigning officially began in Japan Tuesday for the first general election in more than three years. It will determine whether Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gets to stay in his job. Candidates across the country are appealing to the voters and polls are showing that almost half of the electorate has not decided for whom to vote.
• AMNESTY / E-U / CHINA VOA 28 Oct 2003 -- Amnesty International, the human-rights group, is urging the European Union to put pressure on China to improve its human-rights record. The group has issued a report citing a litany of human-rights abuses in China just two days before E-U leaders are to hold a summit in Beijing with their Chinese counterparts.