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Current Operations

• One Marine Killed in Action in Al Anbar Province
• One Task Force Baghdad Soldier Killed in Attack
• Marine killed in action in Al Anbar Province
• DoD Identifies Army Casualties

• 1st Infantry Division Soldiers Conduct Deliberate Operations Near Baqubah MNF-I/MNC-I 12 Dec 2004 -- 1st Infantry Division Soldiers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team conducted several deliberate operations against anti-Iraqi forces in the Baqubah area on Dec. 11.
• Iraqi National Guardsmen Attacked in Central Baghdad; Weapons cache Uncovered After Fight MNF-I/MNC-I 12 Dec 2004 -- Iraqi National Guard troops came under attack by an unknown number of insurgents in central Baghdad at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 12. No casualties resulted.
• Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces Foil Separate Insurgent Attacks, Detain six MNF-I/MNC-I 12 Dec 2004 -- Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces repelled separate attacks by anti-Iraqi insurgents as they attempted to seize a police station and attack an MNF convoy on Dec. 11 in Mosul. MNF Soldiers also detained six people wanted for anti-Iraqi activities and destroyed a large cache of weapons and munitions in western Mosul.
• COSCOMs Transfer Authority MNF-I/MNC-I 12 Dec 2004 -- The 13th Corps Support Command said farewell and LSA Anaconda welcomed the 1st Corps Support Command in a transfer of authority at the Morale Welfare and Recreation Complex here Dec. 12.
• US MILITARY / IRAQ / ARMOR VOA 12 Dec 2004 -- Some U.S. lawmakers are criticizing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over recent comments concerning the military's ability to provide armored vehicles to soldiers serving in Iraq.
• Repeated Insurgent Attacks Kill Three U.S. Troops AFPS 12 Dec 2004 -- Three U.S. servicemembers were killed over the weekend as Iraqi and coalition forces battled against continued attacks in Iraq.

• Karzai: Afghans Embarrassed to be Biggest Supplier of Heroin VOA News 12 Dec 2004 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai says Afghans are "embarrassed" to be the world's biggest suppliers of opium and heroin, and says his government is fully determined to fight the drug trade.
• KARZAI INTERVIEW VOA 12 Dec 2004 -- Less than a week after he was formally inaugurated as Afghanistan's first popularly-elected president, Hamid Karzai offered words of advice for the people of Iraq, who are preparing to go to the polls next month.

Defense Policy / Programs

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• WFP / ETHIOPIA / SUDAN VOA 12 Dec 2004 -- The World Food Program says more than 100-thousand refugees in camps in Ethiopia are facing a serious shortfall of food. The WFP says it will be forced to cut food rations unless donors urgently contribute more than four million dollars.
• SOMALIA/GOVERNMENT VOA 12 Dec 2004 -- Somalia's newly-appointed Cabinet held an emergency session in Kenya's capital, following a parliamentary motion to fire the prime minister.
• ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS VOA 12 Dec 2004 -- At least 10 people were wounded by a blast that ripped through an explosives-laden tunnel near an Israeli military checkpoint on the Gaza-Egypt border, near the town of Rafah.

News Reports

• ROMANIA/ELECTION VOA 12 Dec 2004 -- Voters in Romania are going to the polls in the final round of a presidential runoff which will determine who will lead the former Communist nation into the European Union in 2007. As Stefan Bos reports from Budapest, the opposition is expressing concern about the fairness of the ballot.
• BURMA/POLITICS VOA 12 Dec 2004 -- Burma's military government has freed another group of several hundred prisoners. Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from our Southeast Asia Bureau in Bangkok that critics say most of those released are petty criminals, and very few are political prisoners.

• YUSHCHENKO/POISON VOA 12 Dec 2004 -- Ukrainian opposition leader Victor Yushchenko says the people of Ukraine have already made the choice for a new country, as he prepares to resume campaigning for a re-run of presidential elections later this month. Marlene Smith reports from Vienna, where Mr. Yushchenko spoke to reporters upon his release from a clinic, after treatment for dioxin poisoning.
• Ukraine Renews Probe Into Yushchenko Poisoning RFE/RL 12 Dec 2004 -- Officials in Ukraine have reopened their investigation into the illness of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko after doctors in Vienna said yesterday that new tests left "no doubt" Yushchenko was poisoned in September by large amounts of dioxin.