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Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 23 Aug 2004 [PDF]
• TF OLYMPIA SOLDIER KILLED IN ROADSIDE BOMB EXPLOSION
• ONE MARINE KILLED IN VEHICLE ACCIDENT
• FOUR MARINES KILLED IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE
• DoD Identifies Army Casualties
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualties
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• TF Olympia Soldier killed in roadside bomb explosion
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty

• IRAQ WRAP VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- U.S. troops and Shiite militants fought fierce battles in the Iraqi city of Najaf, where insurgents have been holed up in a mosque for nearly three weeks.
• Fighting Continues In Iraqi Holy City RFE/RL 23 Aug 2004 -- Fighting continued today in the Iraqi city of Al-Najaf between U.S. and Iraqi government forces and supporters of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
• Iraq: Clashes In Al-Najaf Continue RFE/RL 23 Aug 2004 -- U.S. aircraft today attacked Shi'a militant positions in Al-Najaf as fighting continued in the Iraqi holy city. Reports say U.S. forces, backed by tanks and aircraft, appear to be moving closer to the Imam Ali shrine, the base of the Imam Al-Mahdi Army fighters loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
• Fierce Fighting Flares Up In Al-Najaf RFE/RL 23 Aug 2004 -- U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fought intense battles in the Iraqi city of Al-Najaf today.
• Religious Authorities To Guard Al-Najaf Mosque RFE/RL 23 Aug 2004 -- A senior aide to radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said today that religious authorities in the city of Al-Najaf will be responsible for security at a holy site where al-Sadr's fighters are holed up.
• Marines and Iraqi Special Forces team up for a showdown USMC News 23 Aug 2004 -- Marines with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, teamed up with Iraqi Special Forces for the first time ever in Operation Showdown Aug. 18, to search for weapons caches and terrorists in Ar Ramadi.
• Suez Canal passage marks first milestone of 22nd MEU's journey home USMC News 23 Aug 2004 -- Five months after threading its way through the Suez Canal into the Central Command area of operations, the WASP Expeditionary Strike Group and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) has once again passed through the narrow waterway.
• BLT 1/2 Marines get in scrap in Musayyib USMC News 23 Aug 2004 -- Iraqi insurgents set off a roadside bomb, then attacked a convoy of Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit Aug. 20, as the convoy made its way through Musayyib to Forward Operating Base Kalsu.
• RAPCON Airmen control sky over Iraq AFPN 23 Aug 2004 -- Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, coalition forces have controlled the air space over Iraq.
• `Iron Fury' pushing insurgents out of Sadr City Army News 23 Aug 2004 -- Iron Horse Brigade Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division have spent the past week in an operation to root out radical "Mahdi Army" forces terrorizing the eastern Baghdad district known as Sadr City.

• PAKISTAN/AL-QAIDA/AFGHANISTAN VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- Pakistan's military says it has killed at least four suspected foreign militants hiding in a semi-autonomous tribal region near the Afghan border.
• More than 10.3 million Afghans enrolled to vote as registrations close UN News Centre 23 Aug 2004 -- At least 10.3 million Afghans have enrolled to vote in their country's upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections after the final registration sites closed last Friday, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) has announced.
• Afghan Election Security, Reconstruction Efforts Continue AFPS 23 Aug 2004 -- Coalition and host-nation forces in Afghanistan continue providing security for the country's upcoming elections as the nation's rebuilding goes on, a military spokesman in the Afghan capital of Kabul said at a news conference today.
• Trial Of Alleged U.S. Vigilantes Resumes In Kabul RFE/RL 23 Aug 2004 -- The trial resumed in Kabul today of three Americans and four Afghans accused of torturing Afghan terror suspects in a private jail they operated in Kabul.
• PAKISTAN/KARZAI VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in Islamabad for a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, Pervez Musharraf. Each leader will offer his own agenda for the future of Afghan-Pakistan relations.
• AFGHANISTAN/US/DEATHS VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- The U.S. military is apologizing for the killing of three unarmed civilians at a checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan, and says it is investigating the incident.

Defense Policy / Programs

• C-130 marks 50 years of service AFPN 23 Aug 2004 -- This hero is the legendary C-130 Hercules which has reached a 50-year milestone since its first flight Aug. 23, 1954, from Burbank to Edwards Air Force Base in California.
• Guard Soldiers develop, test advanced Bradley simulator Army News 23 Aug 2004 -- The Army National Guard has taken the initiative and developed the Advanced Bradley Full-Crew Interactive Skills Trainer, the highest fidelity training system of a family of simulators that are being developed, said 1st Sgt. Doug Gilliam, lead subject matter expert.
• USS Kitty Hawk Visits Guam Navy NewsStand 23 Aug 2004 -- More than 5,000 Sailors aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), along with elements of the Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Group (CSG), pulled in to Apra Harbor the morning of Aug. 19 for a scheduled port visit during the ship's Spring underway period.
• Rota Airfield Gets $2.5 Million Radar Upgrade Navy NewsStand 23 Aug 2004 -- Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota is now using the state-of-the-art Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) air radar, the first such system overseas in the Defense Department.
• Three Surface Ships Deploy from Mayport Navy NewsStand 23 Aug 2004 -- Nearly 1,000 Sailors aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Hue City (CG 66), the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) and the guided-missile frigate USS Underwood (FFG 36) departed Naval Station Mayport Aug. 20 for deployment in support of the global war on terrorism.
• GUANTANAMO HEARINGS SCENESETTER VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- The U.S. military will begin pre-trial hearings Tuesday for enemy combatants captured in the war on terrorism. Four people among the nearly 600 detained at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are set to appear before a military commission, all charged with conspiring to commit war crimes against the United States. The hearings are opening under extremely tight security as well as controversy over whether the trials will be fair.
• President Hosts Defense Strategy Meeting AFPS 23 Aug 2004 -- The world has become a safer place, thanks to the United States and its coalition allies who are leading the world in the war on terror, President Bush told reporters today following his annual defense strategy meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

• Iraq: NATO Delegation to Promote Training Effort RFE/RL 23 Aug 2004 -- A NATO delegation is visiting Iraq to promote efforts to help train Iraqi security forces. Many details are still unclear.

• State Department Noon Briefing, August 23 Washington File 23 Aug 2004 -- Powell travels to Panama/Greece, Bangladesh, Greece, Israel/Palestinians, Iran, Ukraine, China, Venezuela, 9/11 Commission Report, India, North Korea, Cyprus, Cuba, Iraq, Sudan, Nepal
• White House Daily Briefing, August 23 Washington File 23 Aug 2004 -- White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan briefed reporters August 23 in Crawford, Texas, at Bush's ranch

Defense Industry

• ATK New Business Group Lands Contracts with Combined Potential Value of $18.5 Million ATK 23 Aug 2004 -- ATK (NYSE: ATK) Advanced Propulsion and Space Systems (APSS), the company’s newest business group, has received a series of advanced technology contracts valued at $8.5 million. Follow-on options could bring the total value to $18.5 million. APSS was formed on April 1, 2004, and is chartered with extending the company’s reach into advanced propulsion, composite and space systems technologies.
• General Dynamics C4 Systems to Develop Wearable, Fuel-Cell Driven Tablet Computers for U.S. Air Force General Dynamics 23 Aug 2004 -- General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), announced today it has been awarded a contract by the United States Air Force (USAF) to develop and deliver 10 prototype tablet computers powered by direct liquid fuel cells for evaluation as a potential replacement for the department’s current ground air traffic control computers. The program will combine commercial-off-the-shelf computer equipment with privately-developed fuel cell technology, and could enable extended field operations that will reduce the USAF’s reliance on centrally-located recharging apparatus and spare batteries.
• General Dynamics Awarded $23 Million Modification to Previously Awarded Canadian LAV III Contract General Dynamics 23 Aug 2004 -- The Canadian Department of National Defence has awarded a $22.85 million CAD ( approx. $17.36 million USD) modification to a previously awarded contract for LAV III vehicles to General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada.
• Lockheed Martin Demonstrates Collaboration of Manned, Unmanned Aircraft as Part of UCAR Development Program Lockheed Martin 23 Aug 2004 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] successfully completed a demonstration of manned and unmanned aircraft collaboration as one of the advanced command and control concepts it is developing for its Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program.
• Air Force Awards Lockheed Martin $14.7 Million Contract for Second Pacific Alaska Range Complex Radar Lockheed Martin 23 Aug 2004 -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) received a $14.7 million contract to add a second AN/TPS-77 transportable radar system to the U.S. Air Force’s inventory for the Pacific Alaska Range Complex (PARC), the nation’s largest contiguous supersonic training area.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 23 Aug 2004
• NIGERIA-SUDAN: Government snubs offer of more African troops for Darfur IRIN 23 Aug 2004 -- Africa's latest effort to resolve an 18-month-old conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region hit an immediate bump on Monday when the Sudanese government rejected a proposal for African Union (AU) troops to disarm rebel groups while Khartoum dealt with the pro-government Janjawid militia.
• Sudan: UN envoy visits displaced camps in South and West Darfur UN News Centre 23 Aug 2004 -- The senior United Nations envoy to Sudan has concluded his three-day visit to camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the troubled Darfur region, where despite increased police, vulnerable civilians reportedly remain fearful.
• SUDAN/DARFUR VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- Sudan's claim that the security threat in Darfur has decreased. The government's decision to reduce the paramilitary forces in the region has drawn a mixed reaction. While the United Nations sees the partial pullout as a welcome development, a military expert in Nairobi disagrees.
• US / ISRAEL / SETTLEMENTS VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- The State Department said Monday the United States continues to seek a freeze on Israeli settlement activity even though it has refrained from criticizing new moves by Israel to expand existing West Bank settlements. It said technical-level talks are being held with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on its building plans.
• SUDAN: Government to ensure safe return of Darfur IDPs IRIN 23 Aug 2004 -- The Sudanese government has undertaken to ensure the safe return home of more than a million people displaced by conflict in the western Darfur region, and pledged to abide by a policy of voluntary return.
• Nepalese PM calls on Maoists to end blockade, industrial strike IRNA 23 Aug 2004 -- Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has urged the Maoists to end the blockade in the Kathmandu Valley as well as the indefinite strikes in some major industries.
• NEPAL REBELS VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- There is more violence in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, on the sixth day of an economic blockade imposed by Maoist rebels on the city.
• ISRAEL/SETTLEMENTS VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- A team of American diplomats is due in Israel early next month for talks with Israeli officials on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. The visit comes amid reports that the Bush administration has changed its stance and now supports Israel's policy of building new housing in existing West Bank settlements.
• NIGERIA / SUDAN TALKS VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- Sudanese officials and leaders of two rebel groups opened talks Monday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, in an effort to end the fighting in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Earlier talks ended in July when the government refused to accept the rebels' preconditions.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 23 Aug 2004 -- UN Staff Union urges secretary-general to consider UN withdrawal from Afghanistan following attacks on election workers / Dutch to send six F-16 fighters, extra forces to Afghanistan for elections / Mladic said hiding between Bosnia and Serbia-leader / Pakistani security forces hunt for more terror suspects as details about terror plot revealed
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 23 Aug 2004 -- Eurocorps takes command of ISAF / Daily: "British special forces sent in to counter Olympics terror threat" / NATO mission in Iraq noted / KFOR introduces new measures to improve security in minority areas

• BANGLADESH/VIOLENCE VOA 23 Aug 2004 -- Bangladesh is tense ahead of a two-day nationwide strike called by the political opposition. The nation has been swept by violent protests following a bloody attack on an opposition rally that killed nearly 20 people. The main opposition party is accusing the government of involvement in the attack.