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Operations
Deployments
US Policy
United Nations
Reconstruction Issues
Foreign Reactions
News Reports

Current Operations

• Secretary Rumsfeld Message to the People of Iraq 30 Apr 2003 -- "Hello. I'm Don Rumsfeld, the American secretary of Defense. I am delighted to be able to visit Baghdad and Iraq, your country, to witness the liberation of the country. The American people share your joy and pleasure that the tyranny that was here is gone. "
• Transcript: Secretary Rumsfeld Town Hall Meeting in Baghdad 30 Apr 2003 -- Town hall meeting in Baghdad, Iraq
• Transcript: Secretary Rumsfeld Town Hall Meeting at Prince Sultan Air Base 30 Apr 2003 -- Town hall meeting at Prince Sultan Air Base, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia

• IRAQ WRAP VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- President Bush is preparing to tell the nation and the world that major combat operations in Iraq are over. Meanwhile, his defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, told Iraqis that the United States is eager to return the country to their control. But there was also a sobering reminder that Iraq remains an unstable and, at times, violent place.
• BUSH / IRAQ VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- The White House says President Bush will declare that major combat operations in Iraq are over. President Bush will make a nationwide address from an aircraft carrier Thursday, marking the end of most of the fighting.
• BUSH / IRAQ VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- The White House says President Bush will declare that major combat operations in Iraq are over. President Bush will make a nationwide address from an aircraft carrier Thursday night, marking the end of most of the fighting.
• FINDING IRAQ'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- President Bush is set to announce Thursday that major combat operations in Iraq have ended. But the main rationale for the war -- finding and destroying Iraq's weapons of mass destruction -- has yet to be accomplished amid increasing questions about whether any banned weapons will be found.
• PENTAGON / IRAQ / ERROR VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- The U-S military's Central Command now says it made a mistake earlier this week when it reported American commandos worked secretly on the outskirts of Baghdad for months before the war with Iraq got under way. But the correction raises new questions.
• UPDATE: COALITION FORCES FIRED UPON IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS RECENTLY CENTCOM 30 Apr 2003 -- Iraqis fired at Coalition forces on three separate locations recently.
• Town Tense After U.S. Troops Again Fire At Demonstrators RFE/L 30 Apr 2003 -- .S. troops today opened fire for the second time in just over a day at anti-American demonstrators in the Iraqi town of Fallujah, about 50 kilometers west of Baghdad.
• IRAQ / RUMSFELD VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- In Baghdad Wednesday, U-S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the Iraqi people that coalition forces are there to help create stability and security so they can form their own government.
• Mr. Rumsfeld Goes to Baghdad AFPS 30 Apr 2003 -- Perhaps symbolizing the importance of special operations forces to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad on an MC-130 from the Air Force's 919th Special Operations Wing today.
• Rumsfeld Visits Baghdad As Second Shooting Incident Involving U.S. Soldiers Is Reported RFE/L 30 Apr 2003 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld paid a short visit to Iraq today, nearly six weeks after the Washington-led military coalition invaded that country to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein. Rumsfeld's visit coincided with reports that U.S. troops had been involved in a new bloody incident near Baghdad.
• Rumsfeld Address U.S. Troops In Baghdad RFE/L 30 Apr 2003 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld flew into Baghdad today, 40 days after the United States went to war to overthrow the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.
• COALITION FORCES FIRED UPON IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS RECENTLY CENTCOM 30 Apr 2003 -- Iraqis fired at Coalition forces at three separate locations recently
• GOVERNOR OF BASRA UNDER COALITION CONTROL CENTCOM 30 Apr 2003 -- Walid Hamid Tawfiq al-Tikriti, the governor of Basrah, is now under Coalition control.
• INITIAL RELEASE: CENTRAL COMMAND INVESTIGATES SECOND FALLUJAH SHOOTING CENTCOM 30 Apr 2003 -- US Central Command is aware of reports that there has been a shooting in Fallujah today.
• IRAQ / SHOOTING VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- At least two Iraqis have been killed and more than a dozen injured in a new shooting incident in the town of Falluja, west of Baghdad. The U-S military says shots were fired at a passing convoy and soldiers responded. It is the second shooting incident in the town in three days.
• Operation Northern Watch to officially stand down 1 May EUCOM 30 Apr 2003 -- Operation Northern Watch will officially stand down here May 1 in a formal ceremony, having defending the no-fly zone over Northern Iraq for more than one decade. Senior leaders from coalition partner countries - the U.S., U.K. and host nation Turkey - will join together to commemorate the partnership and teamwork that spanned the 12 years between Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Fleet Hospital 3 - Best Care in Iraq Navy NewStand 30 Apr 2003 -- "I hold the care of the sick and injured to be a privilege and a sacred trust." At first blush, this facet of the Hospital Corpsman Pledge may be difficult for some to reconcile when treating battlefield casualties regardless of nationality.
• Soldiers to work closely with Iraq reconstruction office Army News 30 Apr 2003 -- The Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, headed by retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, has launched efforts to rebuild the war-torn communities of Iraq as coalition operations weed out the last of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime.
• Center manages all OIF ground support AFPN 30 Apr 2003 -- Services. Logistics plans. Transportation. Ammo. Aircraft maintenance. Supply. Fuels. They are diverse, wide-ranging specialties, but they have one thing in common - they are tied together by the same nerve center bringing logistical support to Operation Iraqi Freedom's air warriors.

Deployments

• USNS Comfort Crew Comes Home Navy NewStand 30 Apr 2003 -- More than 400 Sailors regularly assigned at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, Md., returned home today, after serving aboard hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) in the Arabian Gulf.

US Policy

• Bush To Announce End Of Combat Phase of Iraq War Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- President Bush will announce the end of major combat operations in Iraq in a speech to the nation the evening of May 1, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters, but the speech will not be a legal declaration of an end to hostilities because "pockets of resistance" remain.

• Iraq Showed Limits of Nonproliferation Regime, Armitage Says Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- The example of Iraq under Saddam Hussein demonstrates that the current international nonproliferation "architecture is showing some signs of age," says Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

• Rumsfeld Visits Troops in Saudi Arabia; Declares Iraq Transformed Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told U.S. and coalition troops that their efforts have transformed Iraq in only six weeks and that although much work lies ahead, a drawdown of troops and equipment will continue at a pace that fits the situation on the ground.
• Grossman Says U.S. is Liberator, not Occupier of Iraq Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- Marc Grossman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, told Al-Arabiyya TV on April 25 that the U.S. considers itself to be the liberator, not the occupier, of Iraq. Grossman also said the U.S. is seeing "democracy start to appear" in Iraq, and is working to help Iraqis rebuild their country as a democratic, multiethnic Iraq that is at peace with its neighbors.
• U.S. To Downscale Its Military Presence RFE/L 30 Apr 2003 -- U.S. and Saudi officials have agreed the United States will substantially cut the size of U.S. military forces in Saudi Arabia. The move could ease anti-U.S. sentiment in the kingdom, where the public has long been unhappy over the continuing presence of American troops since the 1991 Gulf War
• EDITORIAL: HUMAN FACE FOR SADDAM'S EVIL VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- Day by day, Saddam Hussein's top henchmen are being captured by the U.S.-led coalition. To people outside Iraq, the best known of those captured is Tariq Aziz [TAH-rihk ah-ZEES], Saddam Hussein's deputy prime minister. For years, it was Tariq Aziz -- with his sophisticated manner and superb command of English -- who went to the United Nations and other places seeking to justify the regime's illegal and violent actions.
• EDITORIAL: IRAQ'S SHIITES AND DEMOCRACY VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- With the fall of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, Iraqis have been able to express their genuine religious and political beliefs for the first time in more than three decades.
• Rumsfeld Visits Iraq RFE/L 30 Apr 2003 -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld flew into Iraq today to thank coalition troops who toppled Saddam Hussein.

United Nations

• PRESS BRIEFING BY UNESCO DIRECTOR-GENERAL United Nations 30 Apr 2003
• UN / IRAQ / ANNAN VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged Security Council members to put aside their differences and make their first priority the needs of the Iraqi people.
• U-N / IRAQ / CULTURAL PROPERTY VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- At the United Nations today (Wednesday) UNESCO chief Koichuro Matsuura called for a new Security Council resolution to halt international trafficking of cultural treasures stolen from Iraq.
• Annan appeals for Security Council unity on post-war Iraq UN News Centre 30 Apr 2003 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to the Security Council to set aside its past differences over Iraq and find a new unity that will allow the Iraqi people to take charge of their own destiny.

Reconstruction Issues

• U-N / POSTWAR IRAQ VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- With the battlefield action in Iraq ended, attention is again focussed on the United Nations. The Security Council was the scene of acrimonious debate before the war erupted. Now the debate is over what the Security Council should do next with regard to Iraq and what potential role exists for the United Nations there.
• U-S / IRAQ CULTURE VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- U-S art historians, archeologists, and cultural institutions are joining global efforts to help Iraq recover and restore the treasures of ancient civilization that were plundered by thieves, antiquity traffickers and mobs in the aftermath of the recent conflict in Iraq. U-S cultural experts say cultural properties must be protected to insure Iraq's national patrimony and to provide the war-torn nation with a significant tourist base.
• IRAQ / RED CROSS VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- The International Committee of the Red Cross is helping to re-establish contact between Iraqi citizens dislocated by war.
• Crunch Time For Kurds, But New Problems On The Horizon RFE/L 30 Apr 2003 -- After the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraq's non-Sunni Arab ethnic and religious groups hope their next leaders will heed their longtime demands for greater political and cultural rights. This is particularly true of the Kurds, who have been fighting for autonomy since the end of World War I. Although the present situation for the Kurds looks auspicious, regional experts warn Iraqi Kurdistan may soon become the source of renewed unrest.
• Muslim Leaders Ask U.S. Troops To Move Out Of Fallujah After More Demonstrators Shot RFE/L 30 Apr 2003 -- Muslim leaders in the Iraqi town of Fallujah have met and asked U.S. forces to pull back from the center of the town to pacify people protesting the military presence.
• UNESCO Wants Security Council Ban on Trafficking in Iraqi Cultural Items Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- The head of UNESCO met with Secretary General Kofi Annan April 30 and urged the Security Council to pass a resolution banning the importation and sale of stolen Iraqi cultural items.
• Rumsfeld Says Former Officials Are Key To Finding Iraqi WMD Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Saddam Hussein's regime was "very successful" in hiding its weapons of mass destruction, and said coalition forces would be more likely to find them "when we find the people who know where they are, who were involved in the programs and were involved in hiding [them]."
• Much of Iraq's Devastated Marshlands Can Be Restored, Scientists Say Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- An international group of scientists intent on restoring the southern Iraqi marshlands deliberately destroyed by Saddam Hussein is ready to move its preliminary work into high gear, with indigenous Iraqis to be brought into the rehabilitation effort.
• Snow Discusses Iraq's Financial Reconstruction Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- A U.S. Treasury Department task force is working to address financial and economic aspects of Iraq's reconstruction, including restoring operations of the Finance Ministry, the Central Bank, commercial banks and the stock market, Treasury Secretary John Snow says.
• IRAQ: Education resumes despite security concerns IRIN 30 Apr 2003 -- After a closure of six weeks, one of the first primary schools in Baghdad to reopen its doors after the war welcomed back its pupils on Tuesday. About 30 of the school's 1,300 pupils turned up on the first day, but the school's principal Sa'diyah Sa'd said numbers would increase quickly as the word spread.

Foreign Reactions

• Written Ministerial Statement to the House of Commons by Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon UK Ministry of Defence 30 Apr 2003 -- "In my written statement of 11th April, I said that we would continue to adjust our forces deployed to the Gulf region as appropriate, withdrawing units whose tasks are complete, and in due course replacing those whose tasks continue. Decisive combat operations in Iraq are now complete, and coalition forces are increasingly focussing upon stabilisation tasks. It will therefore be possible to make further force level adjustments over the coming weeks while continuing to meet our responsibilities to the Iraqi people."
• FRANCE / IRAQ VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- France renewed efforts to mend frayed ties with the United States, suggesting disagreements over the war on Iraq are part of the past.
• BRITAIN-IRAQ VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is certain weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq, and his critics will have to "eat their words." Mr. Blair was questioned about the issue in Parliament.
• Rebuffing Blair, Putin Sets Stage For Showdown Over Iraq RFE/L 30 Apr 2003 -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is telling European and other countries they should line up behind Washington if they want to influence U.S. actions. Blair took his message to Moscow yesterday, but Russian President Vladimir Putin flatly turned him down, setting a course toward collision
• AUSTRALIA / U-S SUMMIT PREVIEW VOA 30 Apr 2003-- Australia's Prime Minister John Howard is on his way to the United States to visit President Bush at his ranch in Texas. Mr. Howard will discuss post-war reconstruction in Iraq and will lobby for a share of lucrative commercial contracts. Australia sent two-thousand troops to the campaign in Iraq - it's largest combat deployment since the war in Vietnam

News Reports

• Iraqi Lawyer Who Led U.S. Marines Granted Asylum in U.S. AFPS 30 Apr 2003 -- The Iraqi lawyer who led American Marines to prisoner of war Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch has been granted asylum and is safe in the United States with his family.
• Asylum Granted to Iraqi Who Aided Jessica Lynch Rescue Washington File 30 Apr 2003 -- The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services has granted asylum to Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief, the Iraqi citizen who risked his safety to help U.S. forces rescue Private Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital in Nassiriyah.
• IRAQ /PRISONS (PART TWO) VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- Now that the war is over and Saddam Hussein is out of power, Iraqis are seeking news of loved ones arrested by Saddam's regime. Many people are flocking to mosques and to a newly-formed Committee of Free Prisoners. American officials believe some of the information being gathered by the volunteer committee could be used as evidence in a future war crimes trial
• IRAQ/SAHAF VOA 30 Apr 2003 -- Former Iraq minister of information Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf is not on the list of the 55 leading officials in Saddam Hussein's government that are most wanted by U-S officials, an Arab satellite television station wants him very much. Mr. Sahaf has become something of a cult hero throughout the Arab world with his boastful predictions of an Iraqi victory and his expression of disdain for President Bush.