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Operations
Deployments
US Policy
United Nations
Foreign Reactions
News Reports

Current Operations

• TRANSCRIPT OF 4/5 CENTCOM BRIEF CENTCOM 05 Apr 2003 -- "The focus of today's briefing is going to be a sort of an operational summary. There will be some history here, things that you've seen before, but my goal today is to try to put some of that in a context for you that will hopefully allow you to understand how the operations have flowed over time."
• Transcript: Coalition Forces Air Component Command Briefing April 5, 2003 05 Apr 2003 -- "You are going to be talking to Lieutenant General Michael Moseley who is the Coalition Forces Air Component Commander or the CFACC."
• Transcript: Media briefing: Australia's contribution to global operations Australian Ministry of Defence 05 Apr 2003 -- "This morning's brief will be a little different. Apart from the venue, we have with us the Commander of the Royal Australian Air Force's Air Combat Group, Air Commodore John Quaife. And he will provide us with some briefing and background details on the characteristics and capabilities of the F/A-18 Hornet aircraft you see parked behind me."

• Infantry Division Takes Drive Through Baghdad AFPS 05 Apr 2003 -- Members of the 3rd Infantry Division are moving through downtown Baghdad, U.S. Central Command officials said today.
• Coalition Air Forces Make Ground Gains Possible AFPS 05 Apr 2003 -- Americans see the tanks driving through Baghdad, but what they really don't see is the air campaign that helped make it possible.
• U.S. Troops Conduct Raid In Baghdad RFE/L 05 Apr 2003 -- RFE/RL's correspondent in Baghdad reports that dozens of U.S. tanks and armored troop carriers conducted a raid today through the center of Baghdad.
• Battle For Baghdad Has Begun RFE/L 05 Apr 2003 -- Dozens of American tanks conducted a bold raid through central Baghdad today, probing the defenses within the city and calling in air strikes against a large concentration of Iraqi troops and vehicles.
• IRAQ/WRAP (L-4TH UPDATE) VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- Powerful explosions were heard in Baghdad early Sunday, several hours after a U-S armored column made a brief foray into the center of the Iraqi capital. As coalition forces close in on Baghdad, thousands of refugees are leaving the city.
• IRAQ/WRAP (L-3rd Update) VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- More explosions and gunfire were heard in Baghdad late Saturday, several hours after a U-S armored column made a brief foray into the center of the Iraqi capital. As coalition forces close in on Baghdad, thousands of refugees are leaving the city.
• IRAQ / WRAP (L-2nd UPDATE) VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- Military officials say a U-S armored column has made the first large-scale incursion into the center of Baghdad, while the commander of the coalition air campaign says most of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard divisions outside the Iraqi capital have been destroyed.
• Northern Iraq: A War Within a War? VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- While the battle for Baghdad rages on in the south, sporadic and at times intense fighting between allied and Kurdish forces, and Iraqi troops continues in the north.
• PENTAGON / REPUBLICAN GUARD VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- The commander of the coalition air campaign, Lieutenant General T. Michael Moseley, says most of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard divisions outside the Iraqi capital have been destroyed. The commander says coalition air forces are now providing 24-hour patrols over Baghdad to support soldiers on the ground.
• U.S. Forces Make Daylight Foray Into Baghdad, General Says Washington File 05 Apr 2003 -- U.S. Army forces from the Third Division made a daylight raid into the center of Baghdad April 5, according to a U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman.
• IRAQ / WRAP VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- U-S military officials say coalition forces have made their first large-scale incursion into Baghdad, while the commander of the air campaign says much of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard divisions outside the Iraqi capital have been destroyed.
• COALITION AIRCRAFT STRIKE HOME OF 'CHEMICAL ALI' CENTCOM 05 Apr 2003 -- Overnight, Coalition aircraft struck the residence of Ali Hassan al-Majid, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's cousin. Notorious for ordering Iraqi forces to use chemical weapons on Kurds in northern Iraq, he is infamously known as "Chemical Ali."
• Military Coordination and Liaison Command operates in Northern Iraq CENTCOM 05 Apr 2003 -- The Forward Command Element of the Military Coordination and Liaison Command, led by U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Pete Osman, arrived in Northern Iraq and began working there March 25.
• IRAQ / BAGHDAD VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- Coalition officials say substantial numbers of U-S troops have entered Baghdad and are in the central part of the city. The offensive comes one day after U-S troops captured the international airport on the outskirts of the capital.
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- U-S officials say substantial numbers of coalition troops have entered Baghdad and are in the central part of the city. The offensive comes one day after U-S troops captured the international airport on the outskirts of the capital.
• BRITAIN / BASRA VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- The British military is encouraging militant supporters of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to surrender in the southern city of Basra.
• IRAQ / SAHHAF VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- Iraq's minister of information has contradicted reports of coalition advances in Iraq. He said Saturday that Baghdad was firmly under Iraqi control and Iraqi troops had crushed U-S forces who had attempted to take Baghdad's international airport.
• IRAQ/BRIEFING VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- A senior coalition official says an offensive by U-S troops Saturday into central Baghdad was meant to demonstrate that the Iraqi leadership no longer controls the country as it has claimed in recent broadcasts. The remarks come one day after coalition forces seized control of Baghdad's international airport.
• U.S. Troops Conduct Raid In Baghdad RFE/L 05 Apr 2003 -- RFE/RL's correspondent in Baghdad reports that dozens of U.S. tanks and armored troop carriers conducted a raid today through the center of Baghdad.
• Maintainers get results despite tough conditions AFPN 05 Apr 2003 -- Approximately 1,900 coalition aircraft have launched almost 24,000 round-the-clock sorties since March 19 supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Moseley: 'Softening' not accurate description AFPN 05 Apr 2003 -- "Softening" Iraqi Republican Guard forces in and around Baghdad is not the way Lt. Gen. T. Michael Moseley would describe the effect of coalition air strikes.

Deployments

• Ramstein unit sets up base in northern Iraq USAFE 05 Apr 2003 -- In direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 200 members of the 86th Contingency Response Group recently deployed from Ramstein Air Base, Germany to an airfield in northern Iraq.
• 24th MEU (SOC) arrives in Iraq, joins the fight USMC News 05 Apr 2003 -- After departing Camp Lejeuene, N.C. in August of last year, the Marines and Sailors of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) have faced many challenges this deployment.

US Policy

• BUSH/IRAQ VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- President Bush says U-S forces fighting around Baghdad will not stop until they have driven Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power. The president used his weekly radio address to summarize the war's progress.
• Military Planning Includes Protecting Iraq's Cultural, Religious Heritage Washington File 05 Apr 2003 -- The U.S. military has integrated measures to identify and protect sites of religious, cultural, and historical importance in Iraq into every phase of its planning and operation, according to U.S. Army civil affairs officers who briefed reporters in Kuwait on April 5.
• Bush Says Coalition Bringing Food, Water, and Hope to Iraqi People Washington File 05 Apr 2003 -- As the coalition advances against the regime of Saddam Hussein, U.S. and allied forces are bringing emergency food and water to the Iraqi people along with hope for the future, President George Bush said in his weekly radio address to the nation on April 5.
• Powell Cites Opportunities for U.S.-Turkish Cooperation in Iraq Washington File 05 Apr 2003 -- Despite recent strains, the U.S.-Turkish partnership is strong, and the two nations are working together in northern Iraq to provide stability and humanitarian aid, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview with Turkish television in Ankara on April 2.
• White House Report Calls Baghdad Regime Greatest Threat to Iraqis Washington File 05 Apr 2003 -- For the past two decades, the regime of Saddam Hussein has been the greatest threat to the Iraqi people, according to a new report released on April 4 by the White House.

United Nations

Foreign Reactions

News Reports

• Former Iraqi Jurists Propose Plan for Post-Saddam Legal System Washington File 05 Apr 2003 -- Iraqi jurists in exile have outlined their vision of a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq governed under the rule of law, and say they stand ready and eager to help implement the required changes.
• WAR CASUALTIES ( L-only) VOA 05 Apr 2003 -- It is a time of mourning at Fort Bliss, Texas, home of the U-S Army's 507th Maintenance Company, which lost nine soldiers in a March 23rd ambush in southern Iraq. The dramatic rescue of the 507th's Private First Class Jessica Lynch on Thursday led to the discovery of eight bodies, seven of which have now been identified as also being from her unit. There were also two other soldiers from the unit killed and five taken as prisoners.
• New Hussein Video Raises Questions Of Authenticity RFE/L 05 Apr 2003 -- Is Saddam Hussein alive and well after all? On Friday, Iraqi television showed what it said was the Iraqi president touring the streets of his bombed capital shortly after he had read a televised statement calling on citizens to "strike the enemy with force."