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23 December 2003 Military News

Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
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Current Operations

  • OIF/OEF Casualty Update 23 Dec 2003 [PDF]

  • Transcript: Defense Department Operational Update Briefing 23 Dec 2003 -- Participating; Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff / Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
  • Transcript: Central Command Briefing CENTCOM 23 Dec 2003 -- "Multinational Division Southeast (...) has some 200 -- is about 275 miles wide, and it's just short -- about 260 miles deep. And it has over 600 miles of border with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran. It covers about a quarter of Iraq and is made up of the four provinces of al- Basra, with Iraq's access to the Gulf, al-Muthanna, Dhi Qar and Maysan (...) The security situation in the Southeast is now relatively stable and improving, I sense, day by day. But we've had setbacks, such as the deaths in the summer of the nine Royal Military Police personnel, as well as a number of Iraqi civilians in separate outrages, and of course the tragic murder of the 19 Italian troops and civilians, as well as many Iraqis, in the bombing attack in An Nasiriyah last month. We continue to follow up on these attacks, and while they do not reflect the general trend of progress in the Southeast, we work extremely hard to disrupt and detain those who continue to plan such outrages against us and the community."

  • Rumsfeld, Myers Salute Success in Iraq, Warn Terror Threat Remains AFPS 23 Dec 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today lauded the accomplishments of those who willingly put their lives at risk so that all Americans can live in peace and freedom.
  • Learning Democracy Is Iraq's Biggest Challenge, Bremer Says AFPS 23 Dec 2003 -- The biggest challenge facing Iraq is putting in place a new democracy, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer said today.
  • Conditions Improve in Southeastern Iraq, Says British General AFPS 23 Dec 2003 -- The security situation in southeastern Iraq "is now relatively stable" and improving daily along with economic conditions, the British general in charge of that area said in Baghdad today.
  • Iraq: U.S. Forces Step Up Arrests Of Insurgents In Wake Of Hussein Capture RFE/RL 23 Dec 2003 -- U.S. troops continue to round up suspected militants in Iraq as they step up counterterrorism efforts that have been buoyed by the capture of Saddam Hussein. The past 24 hours have seen sweeps catch a senior general in Hussein's former security services and three militants with suspected links to Iraq's current most-wanted man: top Hussein aide Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri.
  • IRAQ / JUDGE VOA 23 Dec 2003 -- An Iraqi judge has been assassinated in the restive northern city of Mosul. It is the second time in two weeks that a judge in this city has been killed.
  • IRAQ/ARMS VOA 23 Dec 2003 -- For the past six months, U-S troops in Iraq have found themselves under attack by insurgents believed to be remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime. There is ample supply of weapons for them on the black-market - an old Iraqi institution. Coalition forces are trying to stamp out the illegal arms trade while fighting the insurgency it fuels.

  • Afghanistan: Loya Jirga Said To Be Nearing Agreement On New Constitution RFE/RL 23 Dec 2003 -- Afghanistan's Constitutional Loya Jirga continued its sessions today in an effort to ratify the country's draft constitution. Reports indicate the assembly could reach agreement later this week.
  • AFGHANISTAN: Progress being made at Loya Jirga IRIN 23 Dec 2003 -- According to a spokeswoman for the Constitutional Loya Jirga (CLJ), the historic gathering is finally making progress, but there is still no indication when the UN-supervised meeting will end. President Hamid Karzai said at the weekend that he hoped it would conclude its proceedings by the end of December.

Defense Policy / Programs

  • DoD Statement on Anthrax 23 Dec 2003 -- The Department of Defense is currently reviewing a preliminary injunction recently granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia regarding the department's anthrax vaccination program.
  • Transcript: Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs William Winkenwerder Briefing 23 Dec 2003 -- "Yesterday, a U.S. district court judge ordered a suspension of the department's anthrax immunization program against the deadly biological agent anthrax. This decision was in response to a suit brought by six anonymous individuals in March of this year. The department is reviewing the judge's order. As a matter of pending litigation, I'll have no further comment on that litigation at this time."
  • Army exceeds energy-reduction goal for FY03 Army News Service 23 Dec 2003-- Conservation, more-efficient systems and projects such as wind-generated power helped the Army exceed its energy-reduction goal of 1.5 percent for fiscal year 2003.
  • Enhancements in store for future Stryker brigades Army News Service 23 Dec 2003-- Even as the first Stryker Brigade Combat Team experiences its inaugural mission in Iraq, a plan is going forth to enhance future Stryker brigades.
  • Fighting Marlins Return from Successful Deployment Navy Newsstand 23 Dec 2003-- The last of seven P-3C Orion aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 40 Fighting Marlins returned to Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island Dec. 19 from a Persian Gulf deployment, which lasted more than six months.
  • Restarting of EA-6B Component Production Line Navy Newsstand 23 Dec 2003-- Shortly after Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced the restarting of the Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems EA-6B outer wing panel production line in St. Augustine, Fla, a ceremony was held to commemorate the occasion on Dec. 17.
  • Marines dig deep for upcoming-deployment gear Marine Corps News 23 Dec 2003-- Ka-Bar knives run about $75. Flashlights are about $10 a piece. It seems like nickel-and-dime purchases here and there, but gearing up for a possible re-deployment to Iraq is costing some Marines hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets.

  • State Department Noon Briefing, December 23, 2003 Washington File 23 Dec 2003 -- Israel/Palestinians, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Department/Powell's meetings, Iraq, Venezuela, China, Pakistan, Japan, Libya, Sudan

  • Agile Transportation for the 21st Century to Improve Troop, Supply Movement AFPS 23 Dec 2003 -- Troops in the field could reap the benefits of U.S. Transportation Command's information technology initiative, Agile Transportation for the 21st Century - known as AT21 -- as early as May, according to the command's director of operations.
  • Most US troops to remain in Germany: daily IRNA 23 Dec 2003 -- The United States has agreed to keep most of its troops in Germany and will also maintain its European Command Center in the south German city of Stuttgart, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Tuesday.

Defense 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 23 Dec 2003

  • Annan strongly condemns latest incursion into Gaza refugee camp UN News Centre 23 Dec 2003 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today strongly condemned the latest military incursion in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, which left at least eight Palestinians, many of them civilians, dead.
  • ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS VOA 23 Dec 2003 -- Israeli forces and Palestinian militants have clashed in the Gaza Strip, leaving two Israeli officers and at least six Palestinians dead.

  • Bhutan offers to withdraw military offensive against separatists IRNA 23 Dec 2003 -- Bhutan offered to withdraw military offensives against Indian separatists if the rebels volunteer to vacate the kingdom immediately.
  • U-N-H-C-R/CHAD VOA 23 Dec 2003 -- The United Nations says thousands of Sudanese refugees who have fled to eastern Chad must be moved to safety further away from the border. The agency says it is sending an emergency team to Chad next week to prepare for the transfer.
  • NEPAL/US WARNING VOA 23 Dec 2003 -- The U-S State Department has issued a travel warning advising Americans to avoid travel to Nepal because of possible attacks by Maoist rebels. But so far the danger is more potential than real.
  • LIBERIA / SANCTIONS REACT VOA 23 Dec 2003 -- Non-governmental organizations are welcoming a decision by the U-N Security Council to extend sanctions against Liberia. They say the country may be at peace, but the smuggling of weapons, diamonds, and timber continues.
  • DRC: People of Isiro in urgent need of aid, says OCHA IRIN 23 Dec 2003 -- The lives of civilians in Isiro, the main town of Haut-Uele district in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), are being held together by only a "desperate thread", and the town bears the traces of one of the most "ferocious rebellions" of the civil war, a recent humanitarian mission to the area reported.
  • WESTERN SAHARA: Agencies in urgent appeal for food aid for refugees IRIN 23 Dec 2003 -- The United Nations has appealed to donors to urgently contribute funds to ensure the regular delivery of food to 165,000 largely forgotten refugees from the Western Sahara, who have lived in camps in the Algerian desert for the past 28 years.
  • SOMALIA: WFP delivers desperately needed food in north IRIN 23 Dec 2003 -- The World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered food rations to thousands of drought-affected nomads in the Sool Plateau in northern Somalia.

News Reports



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