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News Reports

Current Operations

• PENTAGON/IRAQ/WAR CRIMES VOA 10 Nov 2003 -- This is Veterans Day in the United States --- a solemn day to honor all those men and women who have served in the armed forces. The commemoration is taking on special significance this year because tens-of-thousand of military personnel are deployed in Iraq. Nearly 400 have been killed there, and over two-thousand wounded. Some of them may have been the victims of Iraqi war crimes.
• Coalition Detains 18 Suspects in Al Rasheed Attack AFPS 10 Nov 2003 -- Coalition personnel conducted raids Sunday in and around Baghdad, Iraq, and detained 18 men suspected of taking part in the Oct. 26 Al Rasheed Hotel missile attack, a Pentagon spokesman said.
• Nineveh Civil Defense Headquarters Opens AFPS 10 Nov 2003 -- The headquarters for all fire stations in the Nineveh province of Northern Iraq opened Oct. 30 after soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) helped to rebuild it.
• Turkey: Withholding Of Troops Complicates U.S. Mission In Iraq RFE/RL 10 Nov 2003 -- The U.S. Defense Department hopes to reduce the number of U.S. forces in Iraq by next spring while increasing the number of indigenous and foreign troops to maintain a robust peacekeeping presence. Now Turkey, which had tentatively planned to contribute about 10,000 troops, announced on 7 November that it will not do so after all.
• Iraq: U.S. Seeks Ways To Improve Security Situation RFE/RL 10 Nov 2003 -- Amid a spate of attacks on U.S. troops and new counterinsurgency operations in the center of the country, some U.S. officials are warning that violence in Iraq could increase over the months ahead unless Washington finds better security strategies.
• Iraq: U.S. Forces Clashing With Turkish-Kurdish Fighters RFE/RL 10 Nov 2003 -- There has been an escalation of violence reported in northern Iraq, with Turkish-Kurdish fighters clashing with U.S. coalition forces.

• U.S. to Give $1.6 Billion to Speed Up Afghan Reconstruction Projects Washington File 10 Nov 2003 -- With an eye towards Afghanistan's first post-Taliban elections in June 2004, the United States is accelerating its reconstruction aid to generate "visible, measurable, on-the-ground results," said Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs John Taylor.

Defense Policy / Programs

• PENTAGON/ASIA VOA 10 Nov 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has disclosed he will travel to Asia later this week to visit U-S troops and to confer with officials in Japan and South Korea. Mr. Rumsfeld unveiled his plans after holding historic talks at the Pentagon earlier Monday with the defense minister of another Asian country, Pham Van Tra of Vietnam.

• Indian Navy to set up base for UAVs in Andamans IRNA 10 Nov 2003 -- The Indian Navy is planning to set up a base for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Andaman Islands in India`s Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Bay of Bengal to increase its surveillance capacity in the region.
• India test fires supersonic anti-ship cruise Brahmos missile IRNA 10 Nov 2003 -- Brahmos, the supersonic anti-ship cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia, was on Sunday successfully tested from the Interim Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore in the eastern Indian state of Orissa for the fifth time, India`s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) sources said.
• HSL-37 Easyriders Come Home Navy Newsstand 10 Nov 2003-- The morning of Nov 2., loved ones gathered on the flight line of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Light Squadron (HSL) 37, as two SH-60B Seahawk helicopters carried the entire Easyrider air crew to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay. It had been 233 days since they had last seen each other.
• Global Hawk returns from Germany AFPN 10 Nov 2003-- The Air Force's Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has returned home from a successful three-week deployment to Germany, according to program officials.

Defense Industry

• General Dynamics Signs Logistics Support Agreement with the New Zealand Army General Dynamics 10 Nov 2003 -- On October 25, Brigadier General Rick Ottaway, deputy chief of the Army for New Zealand, and John Ulrich, senior vice president of General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada, signed a Logistics Support Agreement to support the NZLAV (light armored vehicle) program for the next 25 years.
• Manufacturing Begins On Lockheed Martin F-35 Airframe Lockheed Martin 10 Nov 2003 -- On Monday, Nov. 10, milling machines at Progressive Inc., in Arlington, Texas, and at H.M. Dunn Co. Inc., in Euless, Texas, began cutting "big-bone" structural components for the supersonic stealth fighter. Simultaneously, Northrop Grumman Corp., a principal teammate on the F-35 program, started the milling process for other major parts of the F-35 JSF's airframe with its subcontractor Brek Manufacturing in Gardena, Calif.
• Northrop Grumman Begins Production of First Airframe Parts for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program Northrop Grumman 10 Nov 2003 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) today achieved a major milestone on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program by starting production of the first major airframe components for the stealthy, multirole fighter.
• Northrop Grumman Team Validates New Integrated Battle Management Concepts with Mock "Flights" of Air Force's E-10A Aircraft Northrop Grumman 10 Nov 2003 -- A Northrop Grumman- (NYSE:NOC) led team has moved the U.S. Air Force a critical step closer to developing and deploying the battle management command and control (BMC2) subsystem for the E-10A multisensor command and control aircraft.
• Boeing Hot-Fires Pocket-size Missile Defense Systems Thruster Boeing 10 Nov 2003 -- Boeing [NYSE:BA] has successfully tested a new rocket thruster, just eight inches in length, that is now the most powerful engine of its type in the propulsion industry.

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 10 Nov 2003
• Conflict must end in Africa's Great Lakes area for human rights to improve - UN UN News Centre 10 Nov 2003 -- A United Nations-sponsored conference on peace, security and stability in Africa's Great Lakes region is an initiative towards improving human rights observance, but the continued clashes are obstacles to that end, a report to a UN General Assembly committee says.

• U.S. to Judge Next Palestinian Cabinet Based on Anti-Terrorism Fight Washington File 10 Nov 2003 -- The Bush administration will judge the next Palestinian cabinet, expected to be confirmed by the Palestinian legislature within several days, on the basis of the effectiveness of its fight against terrorism, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said.
• ISRAEL/LEBANON VOA 10 Nov 2003 -- planned prisoner exchange between Israel and Lebanon is running into trouble after new threats emerged from both sides.

• Annan says Côte d'Ivoire peace process encounters serious difficulties UN News Centre 10 Nov 2003 -- The peace process in Côte d'Ivoire has encountered serious difficulties in the last three months and the fundamental differences between government and opposition must be urgently addressed if it is to remain on track, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in his latest report on the United Nations mission there.
• IVORY COAST PEACE VOA 10 Nov 2003 -- Five heads of state from the West African economic group ECOWAS, will be meeting Tuesday in Ghana to try to help restore the faltering peace process in Ivory Coast.
• COTE D'IVOIRE: Hopes of peace deal at Accra summit fade IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- West African leaders were due to meet in Ghana on Tuesday to discuss the deadlocked peace process in Cote d'Ivoire, but diplomats and government officials played down earlier hopes of a dramatic breakthrough to prevent the country drifting back to civil war.
• UGANDA / REBEL ATTACKS VOA 10 Nov 2003 -- The Ugandan government says it is expanding local militias and sheltering people in security camps, following five days of rebel attacks that killed more than 60 people in northern Uganda. But churches object to arming civilians.
• UGANDA: Senior UN official pledges more humanitarian assistance for the north IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, has pledged to "more than triple" humanitarian assistance to the troubled districts of northern Uganda, which he described as "one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises".
• DR of Congo presents frightening picture of human rights abuses - UN expert UN News Centre 10 Nov 2003 -- Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) "create a frightening picture of one of the most serious human rights situations in the world," according to a report to the United Nations General Assembly.
• UN peacekeepers involved in armed clashes with militias in DR of Congo UN News Centre 10 Nov 2003 -- United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were involved in several armed confrontations over the weekend with members of a number of militias in the eastern town of Bunia, scene of fierce fighting between rival rebel factions earlier this year.
• DRC: UN troops kill militia commander, arrest nine IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- A commander of the Parti pour l'Unite, la Solidarite et l'Integrite du Congo (PUSIC) was shot dead and nine militiamen arrested when the group opened fire on a UN military patrol on Saturday in the embattled Ituri District, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, an official told IRIN.
• DRC: Belgian mission evaluating military cooperation needs IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- A Belgian delegation is currently touring the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in order to evaluate progress and outstanding needs in the unification of the country's national military.
• LIBERIA: Liberia needs $177 m in aid for 2004, UN official says IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- The United Nations will appeal to donors later this month for US $177 million of humanitarian aid for Liberia in 2004, the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) said in a statement.
• LIBERIA: 10,000 displaced by skirmishes in Nimba County IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- At least 10,000 civilians fleeing skirmishes between former government fighters and MODEL rebels in Nimba County in north central Liberia, have sought shelter in the relatively unscathed town of Saclepea, relief workers said on Monday.
• ETHIOPIA: Army legal experts undergo human rights training IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- Legal experts for the Ethiopian armed forces have undergone key training on the law of war, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Sunday.
• UN mission to address ceasefire violations in Liberia tomorrow UN News Centre 10 Nov 2003 -- The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) will tackle the recent ceasefire violations at the next Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting, scheduled for tomorrow.
• India`s Assam to raise people`s army to combat insurgency IRNA 10 Nov 2003 -- The government in India`s northeastern state of Assam Monday decided to raise a people`s army by providing villagers with weapons to combat separatist insurgency in the region, officials said.
• SRI LANKA/PEACE TALKS VOA 10 Nov 2003 -- Sri Lankan officials say peace talks with Tamil rebels will be indefinitely postponed until a political crisis gripping the country is resolved. Norwegian mediators are to arrive by Tuesday to discuss the fragile peace process with the government and the rebels.
• SUDAN/AID REQUESTED VOA 10 Nov 2003 -- The United Nations is calling for nearly 23-million dollars to help people suffering in a little-known war in western Sudan.
• WESTERN SAHARA: 300 Moroccan prisoners released and repatriated IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it supervised the repatriation of 300 Moroccan prisoners of war released by the Polisario movement at the end of last week.
• DRC-UGANDA: Kinshasa vs Kampala hearings postponed at ICJ IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN, has postponed hearings that were scheduled to open on Monday in the case concerning "Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda)", the court announced on Friday from The Hague, Netherlands.
• NIGERIA: Government vows to protect Taylor despite US bounty IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- Nigeria has vowed not to hander over former Liberian President Charles Taylor for trial on war crimes charges despite a United States government announcement of a reward for his capture.
• BURUNDI: Four civilians killed as FNL rebels shell Bujumbura IRIN 10 Nov 2003 -- Four civilians were killed, five wounded and the Chinese ambassador's home damaged by a rocket when Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) rebels loyal to Agathon Rwasa shelled the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, on Sunday, the mayor of Bujumbura told IRIN.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 10 Nov 2003 -- Lord Robertson says rebuilding of Afghanistan must continue / U.S. military chief warns of rogue missile attacks / U.S. senator suggests NATO security force for Iraq
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 10 Nov 2003 --Ten countries to join multinational anti-chemical unit / U.S. Democrats renew call for NATO aid in Iraq / Lord Robertson reportedly wants Austrian reconstruction team for Afghanistan / Lord Robertson: Neutral states would not be excluded from EU planning cell at SHAPE / New polls in Georgia after protest

• State Department Noon Briefing, November 10, 2003 Washington File 10 Nov 2003 -- Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Bahrain, Israel/Palestinians, Iraq, Liberia/Nigeria, Lebanon/Israel, Vietnam, Japan, Guatemala, Iran/IAEA report, Burma, South Korea/China/Japan/North Korea

• BUSH SPEECH ON MIDEAST DEMOCRACY US Dept. of State IIP, Foreign media Reaction November 10, 2003
• BURMA / U-N VOA 10 Nov 2003 -- The United Nations human rights envoy to Burma says the government has told him it has released eight of 35 people who detained during a crackdown on supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi. However, the envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, adds the pro-democracy leader and nine senior party leaders still do not have freedom.