Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 09 Mar 2005 [PDF]
• SOLDIER DIES IN IED ATTACK
• DoD Identifies Army Casualties

• Iraq Attacks Kill At Least Three RFE/RL 09 Mar 2005 -- Insurgents today conducted a coordinated attack on Iraq's Agriculture Ministry in central Baghdad that left at least two people dead, along with a suicide truck bomber.
• No peace for terrorists MNF-I/MNC-I 09 Mar 2005 -- Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces detained 81 individuals suspected of insurgent activity during operations in Iraq March 9.
• 3/8 finds huge weapons cache USMC News 09 Mar 2005 -- During regular operations around Fallujah and Al Karmah March 3, Marines from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment found their biggest weapons and ammunitions cache since they arrived in Iraq in January.
• New generators keep Al Asad running at full power USMC News 09 Mar 2005 -- Through coordinated efforts of Marines, soldiers and international civilian contractors, Al Asad has moved from relying on outside sources of electricity, to having the internal capability of supplying the whole air base with power.
• '1/6 hard' leaves Lejeune, continues fight in Fallujah USMC News 09 Mar 2005 -- First Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment's main body of troops began leaving here for Iraq's Al Anbar province March 9.
• 3/2 Marines assume authority of Al Qaim region USMC News 09 Mar 2005 -- Lt. Col. Christopher Woodridge, commanding officer of 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, officially transferred authority of Camp Al Qaim and their area of operations to Lt. Col. T.S. Mundy, commanding officer of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment in a ceremony held here March 9.

• India Delivers 50 New Trucks to Afghan National Army AFPS 09 Mar 2005 -- Balloons were tied to brand-new trucks aligned into an L-shape, ready to be driven away. But salesmen weren't haggling with customers trying to make deals.
• Analysis: Afghan Demonstrations Test Warlords-Turned-Administrators RFE/RL 09 Mar 2005 -- Demonstrations rocked two of Afghanistan's five largest cities on 7 March -- Kandahar in the south and Mazar-e Sharif in the north. While the reasons behind these protests varied and the central government's response to them was markedly different, one factor connects the incidents: the presence of former warlords acting as governors of the two provinces.

Defense Policy / Programs

• US/ EUROPE BASES VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- The commander of U.S. forces in Europe, General James Jones, says the United States is ready to begin negotiations with new NATO members Romania and Bulgaria about basing U.S. forces in those countries.
• Africa Integral to U.S. European Command, General Says AFPS 09 Mar 2005 -- Maybe his command shouldn't be called U.S. European Command, but rather U.S. European and African Command, Marine Gen. James L. Jones said in an interview here March 8.
• CONGRESS / IRAQ FUNDING VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- A key congressional committee has approved President Bush's request for more than 80-billion dollars for military and other needs in Iraq and Afghanistan. The legislation also includes money for key nations in the war on terrorism.
• TUSK to update Abrams for urban battle Army News 09 Mar 2005 -- The Abrams tank is growing a TUSK - that's Tank Urban Survival Kit, a series of improvements, including some still in development.
• Kitty Hawk Strike Group Ends Eventful Hong Kong Visit Navy NewsStand 09 Mar 2005 -- USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 ended a four-day port visit to Hong Kong March 1.

• NATO and Russia to conduct joint Theatre Missile Defence Exercise NATO 09 Mar 2005 -- Under the aegis of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), the Theatre Missile Defence Ad Hoc Working Group will conduct the second in a series of joint NATO-Russia TMD Command Post Exercises - 'Collaborative Arrow 05' - from 14-23 March 2005 at Airbase De Peel, the Netherlands.
• RUSSIA TO ENTER NATO AGREEMENT RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a resolution to join the agreement between NATO member-states and other participants in the Partnership for Peace Program.
• BLACK SEA FLEET SHIPS TO CRUISE IN MEDITERRANEAN RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- The Russian Black Sea Fleet's Azov large landing ship left Sevastopol, the main Russian Black Sea naval base, for the Mediterranean on Wednesday, the Black Sea Fleet spokesman told RIA Novosti.

• Canadian Ship to Join Campaign Against Terrorism in Arabian Gulf DND/CF News Release 09 Mar 2005 -- The Halifax-class patrol frigate HMCS Winnipeg is preparing to deploy in early spring for a period of six months to the Arabian Gulf region to operate with the 5th Fleet of the United States Navy in the continuing campaign against terrorism known as Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.

• Pakistan to induct first squadron of JF-17 jets next year IRNA 09 Mar 2005 -- Pakistan will induct first squadron of JF-17 fighter planes, Thunder, in Pakistan Air Force in the middle of next year.

• White House Daily Briefing, March 9 Washington File 09 Mar 2005 -- White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan briefed the press March 9 aboard Air Force One en route to Columbus, Ohio.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 09 Mar 2005
• EU Calls For End To Rights Abuses In Chechnya RFE/RL 09 Mar 2005 -- The European Commission today reacted to the news of yesterday's death of Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov with a call on Russia to end the conflict and stop the endemic human rights abuses there.
• RUSSIA / CHECHNYA REACT VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- Chechen Separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov's reported death in a Russian anti-terrorist raid this week is raising renewed questions about the long-term future of the breakaway republic and long-standing resistance to Russian rule.
• EXPERT: MASKHADOV'S DEATH PUTS WEST IN NO SIMPLE SITUATION RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Aslan Maskhadov's death puts the West in a complex situation, Moscow Carnegy Center scientific board member Alexei Malashenko, Doctor of History, told RIA Novosti.
• CHECHEN SEPARATISTS TO GET LESS HELP FROM ABROAD WITH MASKHADOV GONE: PUTIN'S ADVISER RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Aslan Maskhadov, prominent on the Chechen separatist top, is gone. Overseas aid to separatists is sure to drastically shrink with his death, expects Aslambek Aslakhanov, adviser to federal President Vladimir Putin.
• CHECHNYA: UMAROV TO REPLACE DEAD MASKHADOV? RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Doku Umarov is the most likely to take dead Aslan Maskhadov's place on Chechen separatist leadership, expects Aslambek Aslakhanov, adviser to federal President Vladimir Putin.
• MASKHADOV'S DEATH SPARKS DIVIDED OPINION RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Aslan Maskhadov's death will result in a more stable situation in the south of Russia, says Murat Karaketov, chief of the Karachaevo-Cerkessian president's office.
• MILITANT CLOSE TO MASKHADOV REPORTED HIS WHEREABOUTS TO LAW ENFORCERS RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Aslambek Aslakhanov, an adviser to the Russian president, believes Maskhadov's whereabouts had been reported to law enforcers by someone from among the militant leader's close entourage.
• SET OF SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS PRECEDED MASKHADOV'S ELIMINATION RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- A set of special arrangements by Russian secret services in the North Caucasus preceded the elimination of Chechen terrorist leader Aslan Maskhadov, a source in Russian secret anti-terrorist structures informed RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
• MASKHADOV'S RELATIVES IDENTIFY HIS BODY RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- The relatives of Aslan Maskhadov, the leader of Chechen separatists, have officially identified his body, RIA Novosti learnt in the Chechen prosecutor's office.
• ERA OF TERRORIST-PRESIDENTS IN CHECHNYA ENDS WITH MASKHADOV RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- "The international terrorist and bandit formation leader, Maskhadov, has been killed." This is how Nikolai Patrushev, the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), chose to phrase his report to President Putin on Aslan Maskhadov's death in Chechnya.
• WILL RUSSIA BENEFIT FROM THE DEATH OF MASKHADOV? RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Aslan Maskhadov, the former president of Ichkeria and separatist leader, was killed in Chechnya during a special operation on March 8.
• AFTER MASKHADOV RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- On March 8, International Women's Day, President Vladimir Putin received a surprise gift when he was giving presents to Russian women who had fought in World War II. Aslan Maskhadov, the ex-president of Ichkeria and the leader of Chechen separatists, was killed in a cement bunker 2 meters underground in the settlement of Tolstoi-Yurt.
• COMMISSION ON BESLAN TO ASK FSB TO GIVE DOCUMENTS FROM MASKHADOV'S ARCHIVES RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- The parliamentary commission for investigating the terrorist act in Beslan intends to ask the Federal Security Service (FSB), in case documents or materials, having to do with the Beslan terrorist act, are found in Aslan Maskhadov's archives, to give the copies of these documents to the commission.
• MASKHADOV'S ELIMINATION TO WEAKEN CHECHEN TERRORIST LEADERS RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- The elimination of Aslan Maskhadov will, no doubt, weaken the leaders of Chechen terrorists, the Federation Council's [the upper house of the Russian parliament] Defense and Security Committee Chairman Viktor Ozerov told RIA Novosti.
• MASKHADOV'S ARCHIVE FOUND RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- The Federal Security Service's special forces have found the archive of separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov inside his bunker.
• WHAT WILL FOLLOW MASKHADOV'S DEATH? RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Aslan Maskhadov, a Chechen separatist leader and No.2 on the Kremlin's list of most wanted terrorists after Shamil Basayev, was reported killed near Grozny, the Chechen capital, on March 8, writes Vedomosti.
• STATE DUMA DEPUTIES ON MASKHADOV'S DEATH RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- Members of the Russian State Duma believe that it will be easier to fight terrorism after Maskhadov's death.
• LIQUIDATION OF MASKHADOV A SUCCESS FOR RUSSIAN SECRET SERVICES RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- The liquidation of Chechen militant leader Aslan Maskhadov can be considered an undoubted success for Russian secret services, believes American political expert Dmitry Simes, president of the Nixon Center in Washington.
• MASKHADOV'S BODY TAKEN TO KHANKALA RIA Novosti 09 Mar 2005 -- "The body of the Chechen militant leader, Aslan Maskhadov, who was liquidated on the day before, has been taken to Khankala for further operational-investigative actions," an informed source at the headquarters of the joint grouping of troops in the North Caucasus told RIA Novosti.
• Chechens Vow To Fight On After Maskhadov Death RFE/RL 09 Mar 2005 -- Chechen rebels have vowed to continue their fight against Moscow's rule following the death of resistance leader Aslan Maskhadov.
• Russian Officials Praise Death Of Maskhadov RFE/RL 09 Mar 2005 -- Russian officials today are praising the killing of Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov by Russian security forces.
• Chechnya: Was Maskhadov A Terrorist Or A Legitimate Leader? RFE/RL 09 Mar 2005 -- Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov's death at the hands of Russian special forces yesterday has highlighted the dispute that has long raged over his role in the war-ravaged republic. Who was Maskhadov? The international terrorist that Moscow has branded him, or a legitimate leader of the Chechen people? The answer depends on whom you ask.
  
  
• 2005 Crucial Year for Sudan, U.N. Official Says Washington File 09 Mar 2005 -- The people in Darfur and southern Sudan face a "make or break" year in 2005, depending on whether humanitarian aid and African Union peacekeepers are increased, says the U.N. humanitarian aid coordinator.
• UN/EGELAND/DARFUR VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- The top United Nations relief official has chided African leaders for failing to send enough peacekeepers to stop the killing in Sudan's Darfur region. The official appealed for urgent deployment of thousands more African Union troops.
• SUDAN / DARFUR VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- The Brussels-based research organization, International Crisis Group, says the deteriorating humanitarian, security and political situation in the Darfur region of western Sudan is threatening to undermine a recently-signed peace accord, which ended more than two decades of war in the south. VOA
  
  
• Security Council reiterates two-state vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace UN News Centre 09 Mar 2005 -- The United Nations Security Council today recommitted itself to the two-state vision of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security and called on both parties to fully respect the understandings they reached at a summit meeting last month in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
• ISRAEL SETTLEMENTS VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- A government report made public Wednesday says the Israeli government played a key role in establishing and expanding Jewish settlements on Palestinian land in direct violation of its own policy. VOA's Larry James reports from Jerusalem, Cabinet ministers are calling for immediate action to dismantle all settlement outposts.
  
  
• Kosovo premier's resignation 'good example' of cooperation with court - Annan UN News Centre 09 Mar 2005 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed as "a good example of cooperation" with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Ramush Haradinaj's resignation as Kosovo Prime Minister and his voluntary surrender after the court indicted him for his role in the 1998-99 fighting there.
• GUSMAO/RECONCILIATION VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- Despite misgivings by the United Nations, Indonesia and East Timor have signed an agreement to set up a truth commission to deal with atrocities committed during East Timor's 1999 vote for independence.
• SOMALIA: IGAD meeting asks for more details on proposed peace mission IRIN 09 Mar 2005 -- Senior defence officials from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Tuesday asked the African Union (AU) for further details about the proposed peace mission to Somalia.

News Reports

• BUSH / SYRIA VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- President Bush says Syria must remove all of its troops from Lebanon, rejecting a redeployment of those troops closer to the Syrian border. Thousands of Syrians turned out in Damascus in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
• UN envoy on Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon meets with Arab League chief UN News Centre 09 Mar 2005 -- The United Nations envoy seeking the withdrawal of some 14,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon held talks today with Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa on his way to the Middle East for his second series of talks in a month with Lebanese and Syrian leaders.
• Bush Calls Syrian Withdrawal Plans "Half Measure" Washington File 09 Mar 2005 -- President Bush repeated his call for Syria to completely remove its troops and intelligence services from Lebanon, saying the withdrawal plans announced by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are a "half measure" and do not fulfill the conditions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for total removal.
• LEBANON VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud has been consulting members of parliament on the formation of a new government, amid expectation he will restore the recently resigned prime minister Omar Karami.
• Middle East: Pro-Syrian Rally in Beirut Reveals Lebanese Divisions RFE/RL 09 Mar 2005 -- The divisiveness of Lebanon's political life has been made clear after a Beirut rally -- called to express support for Syria -- attracted huge numbers of people on 8 March. The rally was meant to counter what have been daily gatherings by the Lebanese political opposition to protest Damascus's long-term military and political influence over the country, which is still recovering from a disastrous civil war.
  
  
• PRESS BRIEFING BY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR United Nations 09 Mar 2005
• RICE-VENEZUELA VOA 09 Mar 2005 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Wednesday said the Bush administration does not want to have a bad relationship with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. But in congressional testimony, Ms. Rice said U.S. officials are concerned about whether Mr. Chavez intends to govern democratically, and about his relationship with Cuba's President Fidel Castro.
• Boeing Prepares to Ship Next Generation Weather Satellite - GOES-N Boeing 09 Mar 2005 -- The first of three next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) manufactured by Boeing [NYSE: BA] for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) prepares for shipment to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a launch in May, 2005.