Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 16 Jul 2004 [PDF]
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualties

• 10th Mountain Division Joins First Team MNC-I/MNF-I 16 Jul 2004 -- Approximately 2,000 Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, N.Y. recently convoyed from Kuwait to Baghdad. The 2-10th will serve with the 1st Cavalry Division for one year at Forward Operating Bases throughout Baghdad.

• AFGHANISTAN / US / ARMITAGE VOA 16 Jul 2004 --Senior U.S. diplomat Richard Armitage says Washington's policy in Afghanistan will remain unchanged, regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election in November.

Defense Policy / Programs

• IRR Call-Up Allows Army to Build, Deploy Cohesive Teams American Forces Information Service (AFIS) 16 Jul 2004 -- The Army's call-up of Individual Ready Reserve soldiers will allow that service to keep cohesive teams in the National Guard and Army Reserve together, the service's No. 2 general said July 15.
• 2/3 returns from supplemental MEU operations United States Marine Corps 16 Jul 2004 -- A battalion from 3rd Marine Regiment deployed in November on what was to be a "normal" Unit Deployment Program to Okinawa, but soon wound up aboard ship.
• Transcript: Special Defense Department Briefing on the International Committee of The Red Cross's Report on Detainees 16 Jul 2004 -- C. Ryan Henry, Principal Deputy Undersecretary For Policy
• Pentagon Creates New Policy Office to Review Detainee Issues Washington File 16 Jul 2004 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed an order July 16 creating a new office in the Pentagon to deal exclusively with issues related to detainees or "enemy combatants" held in U.S. military custody.
• DoD Creates Office of Detainee Affairs AFPS 16 Jul 2004 -- The Defense Department is changing the way it handles detainee issues and has created a new internal organization to deal with Red Cross reports, a senior official said in the Pentagon today.
• DoD Developing New Training to Help Potential Captives AFPS 16 Jul 2004 -- The Defense Department is taking a hard look at the way it trains service members to avoid capture and, if they do fall into enemy hands, how to handle themselves.

• Transcript: SecNav Briefs on Review Tribunals 16 Jul 2004 -- Secretary of the Navy Gordon England
• PENTAGON/GUANTANAMO DETAINEES VOA 16 Jul 2004 -- The Pentagon says all of the nearly 600 detainees being held at a U-S Naval base in Cuba have now been notified of their opportunity to contest their status as enemy combatants, and to challenge their detention in U-S courts. The first detention hearings for people picked up by the U.S. military in Afghanistan could begin as early as next week.
• Guantanamo Detainees Notified of Rights; Tribunals to Begin Soon AFPS 16 Jul 2004 -- Roughly 95 percent of detainees held at the U.S. naval base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "responded positively" to being notified they have a right to contest their status before a tribunal and be appointed a personal representative.

• Code of Conduct Guided U.S. POWs in Iraq AFPS 16 Jul 2004 -- A former Army prisoner of war who spent 21 days captive in Iraq before his rescue said the Code of Conduct provided the moral compass he and his fellow prisoners needed to get them through the ordeal.
• IRR Call-Up Allows Army to Build, Deploy Cohesive Teams AFPS 16 Jul 2004 -- The Army's call-up of Individual Ready Reserve soldiers will allow that service to keep cohesive teams in the National Guard and Army Reserve together, the service's No. 2 general said July 15.

• State Department Noon Briefing: July 16 Washington File 16 Jul 2004 -- Department issues, Japan, Armenia, Turkey, Serbia, Israel/Palestinians, Cyprus,Venezuela
• White House Daily Briefing: July 16 Washington File 16 Jul 2004 -- Bush radio address, speech on human trafficking, Iraq/new intelligence service/withdrawal of Philippines troops, Japan/Charles Jenkins, Sudan, week ahead

Defense Industry

• First GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine to Begin Ground Testing GE Aviation 16 Jul 2004 -- The first GE Rolls-Royce F136 development engine for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is expected to begin ground-testing on July 23 at GE's facility in Evendale, Ohio, USA.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT United Nations 16 Jul 2004
• General Assembly debates measures to halt construction of West Bank barrier UN News Centre 16 Jul 2004 -- The United Nations General Assembly today discussed measures to end Israel's construction of a separation barrier in and around the West Bank after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared it to be illegal.
• U.S. Opposes International Court Ruling on Israeli Wall Washington File 16 Jul 2004 -- The opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israeli's security fence "points away from a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," U.S. Ambassador John Danforth said July 16.
• UN / ISRAEL BARRIER DEBATE VOA 16 Jul 2004 -- The United Nations General Assembly held an emergency meeting Friday to debate an Arab-sponsored draft resolution demanding that Israel comply with an advisory ruling by the World Court to stop construction of a security barrier on land in the occupied West Bank. Israeli and Palestinian representatives traded barbed comments during the discussion.

• Russia Demands That Georgia Return Army Equipment RFE/RL 16 Jul 2004 -- The Russian military is demanding that Georgia return the army trucks its security forces seized last week in the separatist republic of South Ossetia.
• Saakashvili: South Ossetia A Russian, Georgian Concern RFE/RL 16 Jul 2004 -- Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says the effort to resolve tensions in the breakaway region of South Ossetia is a matter only for Georgia and Russia.
• RUSSIA/GEORGIA VOA 16 Jul 2004 -- Russia, Georgia and its separatist region of South Ossetia have agreed to resolve the dispute over the mountainous enclave peacefully, but left open the status of the territory.

• SUDAN: African Union mediating talks on Darfur VOA 15 Jul 2004 -- The Sudanese government was holding closed-door talks on Friday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, with mediators from the African Union (AU), according to Hamid Algabid, the AU special envoy to Darfur. The talks are intended to end a 17-month conflict between rebels, the government and allied militias in western Sudan's Darfur region.
• SUDAN/DARFUR/AU VOA 16 Jul 2004 -- African Union officials in Addis Ababa, trying to mediate an end to the devastating 15-month civil war in the Darfur region of western Sudan, are facing a second day of deadlock, after rebels set conditions that the government reportedly found unacceptable.
• ISRAEL / SHARON / GAZA VOA 16 Jul 2004 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has warned that his nation must withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank if it wants to preserve its Jewish and democratic character. His warning came as armed Palestinians on Friday abducted the Gaza police chief, and held him for several hours, in what observers believe is part of a power struggle between factions ahead of an Israeli withdrawal.
• CYPRUS/MILITARY VOA 16 Jul 2004 -- The Cyprus government has proposed a military pullback on both sides of the Green Line, which has divided the Mediterranean Island for 30 years.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 16 Jul 2004 -- Security Council "welcomes and supports" Afghan presidential election on October 9 / Bloodshed takes toll on U.S.-led coalition, Iraq asks Muslim nations to help / China begins war games, eyes Taiwan by 2020 / U.S. House refuses to trim Egypt military aid
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 16 Jul 2004 -- Wall Street Journal views "This Marine's Toughest Battle" / Turkey to send PRT to Afghanistan / No requests for U.S. troops to provide Olympic security, say U.S. defense officials / EU/NATO visit to Sarajevo noted