Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 16 Mar 2005 [PDF]
• Soldier dies of injuries sustained from IED explosion

• Task Force Baghdad Soldiers detain two local nationals MNF-I/MNCI 16 Mar 2005 -- A Task Force Baghdad platoon detained two local nationals at 1 a.m. March 16 in east Baghdad.
• Task Force Baghdad Soldiers discover weapons, ammunition MNF-I/MNCI 16 Mar 2005 -- On March 15, a Task Force Baghdad unit discovered a weapons cache which included rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition.
• Mortars impact in International Zone MNF-I/MNCI 16 Mar 2005 -- Two explosions were reported in the International Zone around 11 a.m. March 16.
• Airmen keep Iraqi airways clear AFPN 16 Mar 2005 -- As 1st Lt. Damian Wanliss enters his cold, dark office, dimly lit by the green glare of the screen ahead, he takes a deep breath and anticipates another day of directing traffic in the chaotic Iraqi sky.

• AFGHANISTAN U.S. BASES VOA 16 Mar 2005 -- The top U.S. military officer says the Department of Defense is studying the possibility of setting up permanent U.S. bases in Afghanistan.

Defense Policy / Programs

• President's Press Conference The White House 16 Mar 2005

• President Nominates 2005 Base Closure Commissioners AFPS 16 Mar 2005 -- President Bush nominated eight people March 15 to serve on 2005's Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

• U.S. House Passes Supplemental Funding for Iraq, Afghanistan Washington File -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation March 16 that would provide $81.4 billion in emergency 2005 supplemental appropriations to fund continuing military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• U.S. House Passes Supplemental Funding for Iraq, Afghanistan Washington File 16 Mar 2005 -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation March 16 that would provide $81.4 billion in emergency 2005 supplemental appropriations to fund continuing military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• TMO Airmen keep people, cargo flowing AFPN 16 Mar 2005 -- The 2,000-pound, $100,000 aircraft part sitting in the maintenance hangar did not get here by a commercial carrier; it was packaged, shipped, tracked and delivered by Airmen of the Traffic Management Office.
• Personnel records to stay at AFPC AFPN 16 Mar 2005 -- Airmen who retire or separate don't have to wait several months to receive requested copies of certain records because of a recent change in how the Air Force maintains personnel records.
• Air terminal operators keep OEF freight, passengers moving AFPN 16 Mar 2005 -- It could be a C-130 Hercules loaded with Airmen and Soldiers heading down range, a civilian cargo plane loaded to the hilt with mail for deployed troops or a C-17 Globemaster III carrying humanitarian supplies for some remote village in Afghanistan.
• Boots Hit the Ground at NAS Jax Navy NewsStand 16 Mar 2005 -- Key leadership from the Naval Aviation Readiness Integrated Improvement Program (NAVRIIP) toured facilities at Naval Air Station Jacksonville March 9 as part of the Navy "Boots on the Ground" (BOG) project.
• Forward Deployed Minesweepers Leaving Trail of Success Navy NewsStand 16 Mar 2005 -- Both USS Patriot (MCM 7) and her sister ship USS Guardian (MCM 5) achieved the lowest magnetic signatures of the Navy's Avenger-class minesweepers during the semi-annual Forward Area Combined Degaussing and Acoustic Range (FACDAR) at the Akasaki Fuel Depot's Magnetic Ranging Facility in Sasebo, Japan, March 10.
• Corps suffers 29 percent spike in suicides USMC News 16 Mar 2005 -- The Marine Corps has endured a 29 percent increase in suicides through the last year, reaching the highest amount in more than a decade.

• President's Statement on World Bank and Paul Wolfowitz The White House 16 Mar 2005 -- President George W. Bush today announced that he has directed U.S. Executive Director of the World Bank Robert B. Holland to recommend that the World Bank Board of Directors elect Paul Wolfowitz as the next president of the World Bank.
• Rumsfeld on Nomination of Paul Wolfowitz 16 Mar 2005 -- "The President has made a superb choice to lead the World Bank, and I congratulate Dr. Wolfowitz on behalf of everyone in the Department of Defense.
• President to Nominate Wolfowitz to Head World Bank AFPS 16 Mar 2005 -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is President Bush's choice to head the World Bank, the president said here today.
• WOLFOWITZ / WORLD BANK VOA 16 Mar 2005 -- President Bush has announced that he is nominating U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz to be the next President of the World Bank. The United States is the bank's largest shareholder, and although the nomination requires the approval of the Bank's 24-member board, the U.S. candidate is traditionally accepted. Mr. Wolfowitz has long experience as a diplomat, but he has also been the focal point of much criticism of the war in Iraq.

• Launch of NATO's Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) Programme NATO 16 Mar 2005 -- NATO's Theatre Missile Defence (TMD) Programme has reached a key milestone in Alliance efforts to field an Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) capability by 2010.

• CONGRESS / EU / CHINA VOA 16 Mar 2005 -- U.S. lawmakers are urging the European Union not to make good on a plan to lift its arms embargo on China, saying it would reward Beijing for its poor human rights record.

• NATO Ships Visit ALGIERS NATO/JFC Naples 16 Mar 2005 -- NATO ships will visit Algiers from 18 to 21 March when units from the Standing NATO Response Force Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) will be berthed in Algiers Harbour.

• RUSSIAN ARMY BASES IN GEORGIA: TALKS DUE WITHIN MONTH RIA Novosti 16 Mar 2005 -- Moscow and Tbilisi have agreed to arrange negotiations on Russian military bases in Georgia within this month's closing ten days.
• Russian General: Bases In Georgia For Three More Years RFE/RL 16 Mar 2005 -- A Russian general today said that Russia's two remaining military bases in Georgia will remain operational for a "minimum" of three years.

• Statete Department Briefing, March 16 Washington File 16 Mar 2005 -- India/Pakistan, Israel/Palestinians, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Bolivia, Syria/Turkey, Syria/Lebanon, North Korea

Defense Industry

• Boeing Rolls Out First F-15K for Republic of Korea Air Force Boeing 16 Mar 2005 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] revealed the first F-15K Strike Eagle fighter aircraft for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) today at the Boeing site in St. Louis, Mo.
• General Dynamics Awarded $11 Million Modification to Previously Awarded Canadian LAV III Contract General Dynamics 16 Mar 2005 -- The Canadian Department of National Defence has awarded a $10.9 million CAD modification to a previously awarded contract for LAV III vehicles to General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada. General Dynamics Land Systems, the Canadian company’s parent corporation, is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).
• General Dynamics Is Awarded $37 Million Contract Modification for Submarine Work General Dynamics 16 Mar 2005 -- The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $36.6 million contract modification for nuclear-submarine work. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).
• Lockheed Martin Conducts Successful Production Verification Test of Guided MLRS Rockets Lockheed Martin 16 Mar 2005 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] recently conducted a successful three-rocket ripple production verification test of the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rocket at White Sands Missile Range, NM.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 16 Mar 2005
• SUDAN/DARFUR VOA 16 Mar 2005 -- Aid workers say people living in the largest displaced persons camp in the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan are facing serious water shortages, primarily because of a severe drought in the area.
• SUDAN: Government urges political solution to Darfur crisis IRIN 16 Mar 2005 -- The Sudanese government has reiterated its call for a political solution to the crisis in the western region of Darfur, adding that the recently signed peace agreement in the south had provided a framework for settling the Darfur conflict peacefully.
  
  
• UGANDA: Acholi leaders in The Hague to meet ICC over LRA probe IRIN 16 Mar 2005 -- Leaders from war-torn northern Uganda arrived in The Hague, Netherlands, on Tuesday to appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to refrain from issuing arrest warrants against the leaders of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
• UN/EGELAND VOA 16 Mar 2005 -- The U.N. top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, says the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is the world's worst humanitarian crisis, displacing Sudan's Darfur region, which until recently held that dubious distinction.
• ISRAEL PALESTINIANS VOA 16 Mar 2005 -- Israel has returned Jericho to Palestinian security control -- a confidence-building measure aimed at getting peace talks back on track.
• SOMALIA: UN Security Council recommends Sanctions Committee visit IRIN 16 Mar 2005 -- The UN Security Council has recommended that its Sanctions Committee visits Somalia to reinforce the Council's commitment to fully enforce the arms embargo against the war-ravaged, Horn of Africa country.

News Reports

• UN inquiry mission into former Lebanese premier's murder completes probe UN News Centre 16 Mar 2005 -- The United Nations Mission of Inquiry into last month's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon has left the country after completing its probe and is expected to report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan next week.
• BUSH / LEBANON / IRAN VOA 16 Mar 2005 -- President Bush reaffirmed his belief in the importance of a free Lebanon Wednesday during talks with the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Nasrallah Sfeir. Mr. Bush used the occasion to once again urge a complete Syrian withdrawal.

• BURMA REFUGEES VOA 16 Mar 2005 -- Thailand has given several thousand Burmese refugees a March 31 deadline to leave urban areas and move to special camps along the Thai-Burma border. Those failing to heed the order face repatriation if caught.

• KYRGYZSTAN: Election protests continue IRIN 16 Mar 2005 -- Opposition protest continued in many parts of Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday, expressing popular discontent with Sunday's run-off polls that have resulted in a strong majority for pro-government parties.
• Kyrgyz Police Rescue Political Hostage RFE/RL 16 Mar 2005 -- Kyrgyz Interior Ministry police broke through the window of an administration building in the Jalal-Abad region today to release a district administration official who was being held hostage by antigovernment protesters inside.