Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 03 Feb 2005 [PDF]
• A SECOND MARINE KILLED IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE

• Transcript: DoD News Briefing 03 Feb 2005 -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. Also participating; Gen. Peter Pace, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
• IRAQ/MILITARY VOA 03 Feb 2005 -- Iraq's interior minister says security forces nearly captured the insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi two or three times, missing him by just about an hour in one instance. The minister says other U.S. and Iraqi raids have weakened the insurgency, but he expects attacks to continue.
• Army helping build new Iraq border posts Army News 03 Feb 2005 -- An estimated $25 million is being spent to construct 100 new border forts along the northern borders of Iraq, as well as rehabilitate and enhance numerous points of entry.
• Lejeune Marines return home from deployment in Iraq USMC News 03 Feb 2005 -- After seven months battling insurgents in Iraq, approximately 850 Marines with 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment returned to a cheering crowd of family and friends here Jan. 28-30.

• ACEH / US MILITARY VOA 03 Feb 2005 -- The U.S. Navy Aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln will leave Indonesia's Tsunami -devastated Aceh Province by Saturday. Australian troops are also scheduled to leave the region within weeks. The announcement comes as Indonesian officials say they are switching from emergency relief operations to the reconstruction phase.
• U.S. Military Transitions Relief Efforts Navy NewsStand 03 Feb 2005 -- The U.S. military support effort for tsunami relief is nearly complete.
• Prepositioning Ships Bring Water to Tsunami-Stricken Islands Navy NewsStand 03 Feb 2005 -- Two Military Sealift Command (MSC) prepositioning ships, MV 1st Lt. Jack Lummus (T-AK 3011) and MV 1st Lt. Alex Bonnyman (T-AK 3002), completed a 10-day tsunami relief operation Feb. 1 in the Republic of Maldives as part of Operation Unified Assistance.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Transcript: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Live Interview with CNN Larry King 03 Feb 2005 -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld

• 3/2 Marines charge up to deploy USMC News 03 Feb 2005 -- With deployment to Iraq on the horizon, the Marines of 3rd Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment participated in one last training evolution.
• Cope Tiger roars over Thailand AFPN 03 Feb 2005 -- The sky here has been alive with the sounds of military aircraft from Thailand, Singapore and the United States supporting exercise Cope Tiger 05.
• First South Texas Bilateral EOD Exercise Successful Navy NewsStand 03 Feb 2005 -- The Navy's first bilateral Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) exercise with the French Navy was held in South Texas in January.
• QDR to Reflect Uncertain Environment AFPS 03 Feb 2005 -- The 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review will reflect the reality that potential threats against the United States remain uncertain and "we just can't predict, like we could during the Cold War, of what it is we've got to face," a senior DoD official said here today.

• PAKISTAN/U.S. SECURITY VOA 03 Feb 2005 -- Senior defense officials from Pakistan and the United States have held discussions on the war on terrorism and boosting Islamabad's defense capabilities. The agenda included Islamabad's desire to buy U.S. fighter jets, but no decision was made on the issue.

• U.S. INTENTION TO CONTINUE ANTI-TERRORISM FIGHT SUITS RUSSIA RIA Novosti 03 Feb 2005 -- The U.S. foreign policy priorities voiced by President George Bush in his State of the Union Address indicate further constructive cooperation between Russia and the U.S. in the fight against international terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Konstantin Kosachov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, opined in response to the address delivered by the U.S. president.
• MOSCOW: PREEMPTIVE STRIKES ON TERRORIST BASES COMPLY WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW RIA Novosti 03 Feb 2005 -- Any possible Russian preemptive strikes on terrorist bases will not run counter to international law, the Foreign Ministry comment received by RIA Novosti on Thursday reads.

• State Department Briefing, February 3 Washington File 03 Feb 2005 -- Georgia, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Israel/Palestinians, Iran, United Nations/Iraq, Nepal, North Korea, Middle East
• White House Daily Briefing, February 3 Washington File 03 Feb 2005 -- White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan briefed the press February 3 on Air Force One as they accompanied President Bush to events in North Dakota and Montana.

Defense Industry

• Boeing Laser JDAM Scores Direct Hit Boeing 03 Feb 2005 -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) successfully conducted a guided flight test of the Boeing laser-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
• The F136 Fighter Engine Team Ready to 'Lift' Off in 2005 GE Aviation 03 Feb 2005 -- General Electric Company has successfully completed assembly and installation in the test rig of its first F136 Short Takeoff Vertical Landing (STOVL) test engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program. The engine is slated to begin ground testing this month at GE's outdoor test facility in Peebles, Ohio, USA.
• ILS LAUNCHES NRO PAYLOAD Lockheed Martin 03 Feb 2005 -- When an Atlas III launch vehicle successfully placed a national security payload into orbit early this morning, it set an industry record of 75 consecutive successful missions for the Atlas vehicle.
• Northrop Grumman Uses Defense Department's Mentor-Protege Program to Form Relationship with 3D Research Corporation Northrop Grumman 03 Feb 2005 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is helping a local Huntsville company - 3D Research Corporation - competitively bid for government and commercial contracts in a relationship under the U.S. Department of Defense mentor-protege program.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT United Nations 03 Feb 2005
• REGIONAL OPERATIONAL HQ REFUTES CHECHEN SEPARATIST LEADERS' STATEMENTS RIA Novosti 03 Feb 2005 -- The Regional Operational HQ for the Anti-Terror Operation in the North Caucasus have refuted allegations by Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev posted on the internet sites of Chechen separatists.
• CHECHEN MILITANTS DECLARE CEASEFIRE RIA Novosti 03 Feb 2005 -- Aslan Maskhadov, the leader of the Chechen militants, has issued an order called "The Order to Halt Offensive Combat Activities Unilaterally", Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports.
• Chechnya: Maskhadov Reportedly Orders Cease-Fire RFE/RL 03 Feb 2005 -- Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov has allegedly ordered Chechen fighters to temporarily halt all offensive operations in the republic. A statement by Maskhadov published on a Chechen website says the cease-fire, due to last through 22 February, is a gesture of goodwill. Chechnya's Russian-backed government has dismissed the report, calling it a publicity stunt that cannot be trusted.
  
  
• UN suspends its road movements in part of West Darfur, Sudan, after attack on truck UN News Centre 03 Feb 2005 -- United Nations road movement has been suspended on the route between two of the main towns in West Darfur state in Sudan after armed men yesterday fired at a clearly marked UN truck and looted all the personal belongings of the driver and passengers.
• More than 10,000 troops proposed for UN peace-support mission for Sudan UN News Centre 03 Feb 2005 -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan today formally recommends that the United Nations establish a peace-support mission in southern Sudan, and calls on Member States to contribute more than 10,000 troops and 700 civilian police to the operation, warning that the civil war that has just ended there "cannot quickly or easily be dispatched to history."
  
  
• NEPAL: 'DEEPLY FACTIONALIZED' NATION PLUNGING INTO 'POLITICAL FREEFALL' US Dept. of State IIP, Foreign Media Reaction 03 Feb 2005
• NEPAL / CRACKDOWN VOA 03 Feb 2005 -- The king of Nepal's new government has called for the country's Maoist insurgents to come to the negotiating table or face unspecified actions. The demand comes two days after King Gyanendra took power and shut down communication links.
  
  
• FBI TO DELVE INTO GEORGIAN PREMIER'S DEATH RIA Novosti 03 Feb 2005 -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation will make an expertise of the Zurab Zhvania tragedy parallel to Georgian investigation, the Georgian Prosecutor General's PR announced to the media.
• LIBERIA: Seven more counties opened up for return of IDPS and refugees IRIN 03 Feb 2005 -- The authorities in Liberia have opened up seven more counties for the return of internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees who fled their homes during the civil war. They include Lofa and Nimba counties in the north of the country, which experienced some of the worst fighting and a massive exodus of people.
• COTE D IVOIRE: Chirac says ready to pull troops if asked, worried about elections IRIN 03 Feb 2005 -- The prospect of Cote d'Ivoire holding elections on schedule in October is looking increasingly tricky and France will only keep its peacekeeping troops in the country if it is asked to do so by African leaders, President Jacques Chirac has said.
• ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS VOA 03 Feb 2005 -- Israel has agreed to release 900 Palestinian prisoners and to withdraw its troops from parts of the West Bank. The decision comes just days before Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice visits the region for talks and ahead of a planned Israeli-Palestinian summit next Tuesday.

News Reports

• Georgian Prime Minister Found Dead RFE/RL 03 Feb 2005 -- Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania died early today due to an apparent gas leak in an apartment. RFE/RL Caucasus analyst Liz Fuller looks back at Zhvania's career.
• GEORGIA POL VOA 03 Feb 2005 -- Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has called an emergency meeting of the country's national security council following the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania overnight. Mr. Zhvania's bodyguards found him dead in a friend's apartment, apparently the victim of a natural gas leak.

• SRI LANKA / TSUNAMI AID VOA 03 Feb 2005 -- In Sri Lanka, officials say bureaucratic incompetence has kept aid from reaching many victims of the December tsunami. The island country has received a steady inflow of international aid in the wake of the disaster.